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LIFE    OF    LAURENCE    OLIPHANT 


'uC' 


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MEMOIR 


OF  THE 


LIFE    OF    LAURENCE    OLIPIIANT 


AND  OF 


ALICE  OLIPHANT,  HIS  WIFE 


BY 

MAEGAEET  OLIPHANT  W.  OLIPHANT 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES 
Vol.  I. 


NEW    YORK 

HARPER    &    BROTHERS,    FRANKLIN    SQUARE 

1891 


.'V 


V.I 


7 


PEEFACE. 


I  HAVE,  in  concluding  this  book,  to  thank  ahnost 
all  the  persons  most  closely  connected  with  Lau- 
rence Oliphant  for  their  kind  confidence  in  in- 
trustinof  me  with  the  numerous  letters  which 
reveal  his  character  so  much  more  clearly  than 
anything  else  can, — especially  those  which  show 
the  formation  of  that  character,  addressed  to  his 
mother  in  the  early  part  of  his  life,  which  I  owe 
to  the  courtesy  of  Mrs  Rosamond  01i23hant,  now 
Mrs  James  Murray  Templeton  :  a  courtesy  all  the 
more  marked  that  I  believe  she  herself  intended, 
or  still  intends,  to  make  some  record,  though  prob- 
ably from  a  different  point  of  view,  of  her  late 
husband's  life.  I  have  also  to  render  my  best 
thanks  to  Mrs  Wynne  Finch,  the  mother  of  the 
late  Mrs  Laurence  Oliphant ;  to  Mrs  Waller,  her 
sister,  and  to  Hamon  le  Strange,  Esq.,  her  brother, 
for  much  most  interesting  information  and  a  num- 


VI  PREFACE. 

ber  of  important  letters.  Other  letters  have  come 
to  me  through  Mrs  Wynne  Finch  and  other  chan- 
nels— from  Lady  Guendolen  Ramsden,  the  Hon. 
F.  Leveson  Gower,  Major  Goldsmid,  and  others, 
to  whom  my  best  thanks  are  also  due.  I  have 
also  most  grateful  thanks  to  oive  to  Mr  and 
Mrs  J.  D.  Walker,  formerly  of  San  Kafael,  Cali- 
fornia, for  an  account  of  many  incidents  of  great 
value  in  the  record  of  the  two  lives  ;  to  Mrs 
Hankin,  of  Malvern,  for  the  use  of  her  notes  of 
intercourse,  both  by  letter  and  personally  ;  to 
Arthur  Oliphant,  Esq.  ;  and  to  Lady  Grant  DuflP, 
in  whose  house  Mr  Oliphant  died. 

I  have  one  other  acknowledgment  to  make, 
which  in  happier  circumstances  would  have  been 
said  only  to  the  private  ear  of  him  to  whom  it  is 
due.  A  great  part  of  the  letters  quoted  here 
were  selected,  arranged,  and  connected  for  me  by 
my  dear  son,  Cyril  Francis  Oliphant,  whom  it 
pleased  God  to  take  to  Himself  just  as  the  book 
was  ended,  the  last  work  he  did  on  earth  being 
included  in  these  pages.  It  can  never  bear  to 
me  any  other  memorial  and  inscription  than  his 
beloved  name.  . 

December  8,  1890. 


CONTENTS  OF  THE  FIEST  VOLUME. 


CHAPTER   I. 

HIS    PARENTAGE    AXD    CHILDHOOD. 


PAGE 


The  house  of  Olipliant — The  Oliphants  of  Condie — Sir  Anthony's 
letter— The  judge  and  the  officer — The  Chief-Justice's  ideal — 
Lowry's  expressive  eyes — Little  letters — The  first  tutor — The 
first  adventures — Lowry's  education,         ....         1 


CHAPTER    II. 

BEGINNING    LIFE. 

His  unusual  education — Eevolution  in  Italy — At  the  Bar — Life  in 
Ceylon — Diverse  counsellors — Letters  to  his  mother — Friends  in 
India — Receiving  the  natives — Young  ladies — Elephant-hunting 
— A  unique  experience — Self-examination — All  things  to  all  men 
—End  of  the  holiday,         .  .  .  .  .  .23 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE    BAR THE    EXPEDITION    TO    RUSSIA. 

Voyage  to  England — Letters  to  his  father — Social  life — The  Exhibi- 
tion building— Letters  to  his  father — Work  in  the  slums — The 
progress  of  the  law — The  Scotch  Bar— His  first  book — Edinburgh 
society — The  Parliament  House — His  ''blackguards"  in  West- 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

minster — A  vacation  ramble — Something  to  write  about — Letters 
to  his  mother — A  system  of  self-education — Nijni  Novgorod — 
Worth  a  journey  from  England — On  the  Volga — End  of  the  first 
stage — Across  the  steppe — Russian  reports,  .  .  .54 


CHAPTER   IV. 

AMERICA    AND    CANADA. 

The  '  Eussian  Shores  of  the  Black  Sea  ' — Preparations  for  war — The 
Eastern  question — The  parents  at  home — A  commercial  treaty — 
American  hotels  • — •  Congress  —  American  young  ladies  —  The 
struggle  of  life — Champagne — A  joyous  temperament — A  book 
on  America — Lord  Elgin's  method — People  he  meets — Success  of 
the  negotiations — "  The  venerable  file  " — Keception  in  Canada — 
Quebec — New  appointment — Literary  plans — Religious  thoughts 
— The  Third  Person  of  the  Trinity — An  ungrateful  lecture — A 
second  treaty — The  demure  secretary — Politics  and  society — 
Vicissitudes  of  feeling — "Winter  in  Canada — His  Excellency,        .     100 


CHAPTEE   V. 

THE    CRIMEA. 

In  suspense — Departure  for  the  Crimea — Therapia — Letter  to  his 
mother — The  breath  of  war — Sent  to  Circassia — "  Lots  of  tin  " — 
Love  of  theological  discussion — "An  independent  swell " — "  Did 
not  expose  himself  at  all  "• — Made  a  battery — Plunder — Camp 
thoughts — His  conscience  never  satisfied — Again  in  suspense — 
In  the  Southern  States — A  filibuster — Restored  to  society,  .     158 

CHAPTER   VI. 

THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

Religious  thoughts— Railways  in  Egypt — Lord  Elgin  at  Singapore — 
An  arrested  expedition — The  light  of  reason — Difficulty  about 
prayer  —  No  critic  —  Christian  faith  and  Christian  practice — 
Advancing  faith — Reflecting  the  mind  of  God — Unsuited  for 
philosophical  inquiries  —  A  day  of  humiliation^ — Death  —  The 
germs    of  future    belief — A  musical   Mass — The  limits  of  self- 


CONTENTS.  IX 

denial — The  Jesuits  and  the  missionaries — Taking  a  town — 
Japan — Occasional  gaieties — "  "Worse  than  a  colony" — "  Setting 
up  his  reason  " — Death  of  his  father — lyipatient  merit — The 
weakness  of  the  flesh — On  revolution  intent — In  Turin — At  Nice 
— Appointed  clicirgi  d'affaires  at  Yedo — Intolerable  conditions — 
The  "happy  despatch  " — The  Japanese  robber — "  Trussed  like  a 
fowl  " — Alternative  withdrawal  or  fight — Bligh's  letter — Return 
home,         ......,,     195 


CHAPTEE   YII. 

POLITICAL    ADVENTUKE SOCIAL    LIFE. 

The  Prince  of  Wales — In  unknown  lands — English  consuls  and 
colonists — Gives  up  the  diplomatic  service — The  Poles  in  the 
field — The  downfall  of  the  Poles — Schleswig-Holstein — A  citizen 
of  the  world — His  occupations  at  home — The  British  Association 
— At  Greenock — "Papa  "  in  Stirling — "A  walk  with  the  lassies  " 
— Norman  Macleod  a  trump — Mother  and  son — The  Stirling 
burghs — A  new  development — A  little  dinner — The  '  Owl ' — 
Ithuriel's  spear — '  Piccadilly  ' — The  wholly  worldly  and  worldly 
holj',  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .268 


M  E  M  0  I  Pi 


OF    THE 


LIFE    OF   LAUEENCE    OLIPHANT. 


CHAPTEE    L 

HIS   PARENTAGE   AND    CHILDHOOD. 

The  subject  of  this  memoir,  Laurence  Oliphant, 
was  a  man  so  unique  in  himself,  so  entirely  in- 
dividual and  distinct  in  his  generation,  that  it  is 
more  than  ordinarily  unnecessary  to  distinguish 
him  by  the  mild  and  modest  honours  of  the  family 
of  Scotch  country  gentlemen  from  which  he 
sprang.  I  may  be  permitted,  however,  the  nat- 
ural weakness  of  some  brief  notice  of  the  race  of 
which  he  has  proved  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
members,  and  to  which  I  also  belong,  both  by 
birth  on  the  mother's  side  and  by  marriage.  The 
VOL.  I.  A 


2        HIS  PAREXTAGE  AND  CHILDHOOD. 

fond  superstition  of  ancient  race,  to  which  the  Scot 
in  all  his  developments  is  prone,  may  be  accepted 
as  an  excuse  for  this  unfortunately  somewhat 
vague  and  not  very  brilliant  passage  of  history. 
We  have  not,  I  fear,  been  very  remarkable  as  a 
race.  After  the  first  somewhat  misty  heroes  of 
the  past,  the  house  appears  only  in  the  occa- 
sional mention  of  a  name  here  and  there, — when 
a  Lord  Oliphant  witnessed  a  royal  charter,  or  lent 
his  silent  support  to  a  protest  or  revolt  of  the 
Scots  nobility  of  his  time.  There  is  a  page  in  a 
manuscript  of  the  seventeenth  century,  preserved 
in  the  Heralds'  College,  which  sums  up  their  dis- 
positions in  words  very  quaint  and  graphic,  and 
very  satisfactory  in  the  point  of  view  of  the 
domestic  virtues,  but  not,  perhaps,  indicative  of 
much  greatness.  "  The  Lord  Oliphant.  —  This 
baron,"  says  that  anonymous  authority,  "  is  not 
of  great  renown,  but  yet  he  hath  good  landes  and 
profitable ;  a  house  very  loyal  to  the  Kings  of 
Scotland ;  accounted  no  orators  in  theyr  wordes 
nor  yet  foolish  in  theyr  deedes.  They  do  not 
surmount  in  theyr  alliances,  but  are  content  with 
theyr  worshipful  neighbours."  "  As  for  the  anti- 
quity of  the  family  and  sirname,"  says  Nisbet  in 
his  '  System  of  Heraldry,'  in  the  chapter  which 
treats  of  "  Celestial  Figures  ;  the  Sun,  Moon,  and 
Stars,"  to  which  the  bearings  of  the  family  belong, 


THE    HOUSE    OF    OLIPHANT.  3 

"  there  was  an  eminent  baron  of  that  name  who 
accompanied  Kmg  David  I.  to  the  siege  of  Win- 
chester in  England  in  the  year  1142,  named 
David  de  OHphard  ;  and  the  same  man  or  another 
of  that  name  is  to  be  found  frequently  a  witness 
to  that  king's  charters ;  and  particularly  (says 
Mr  Crawfurd,  in  his  '  Peerage ')  in  that  to  the 
Priory  of  Coldingham,  whereto  his  seal  is  appended, 
which  has  thereupon  three  crescents,  which  clearly 
prove  him  to  be  the  ancestor  of  the  noble  family 
of  01ij)hant,  who  still  bear  the  same  figures  in 
their  ensio^n  armorial." 

In  the  Scottish  War  of  Independence,  Sir  Wil- 
liam Oliphant  of  Aberdalgy,  in  Forfarshire,  the 
acknowledg-ed  head  of  the  house,  held  Stirlinof 
Castle  against  the  English  ;  but  was  not,  I  fear, 
quite  free  of  the  intrigues  of  the  time,  and  those 
occasional  chano-es  of  side  which  even  the  s'reat 
Bruce  himself,  before  he  settled  into  his  noble 
career,  was  sometimes  betrayed  into.  His  son 
was,  however,  rewarded  for  their  exertions  in  the 
cause  of  their  country  by  the  hand  of  Elizabeth 
Bruce,  the  king's  daughter,  who  was  not  indeed  a 
legitimate  princess — but  the  distinction  counted 
for  little  in  those  days.  A  generation  or  two 
later,  the  heir  of  the  house  acquired  some  portion 
of  the  estate  of  Kellie  in  Fifeshire,  upon  which  he 
settled  his  second  son,  Walter  Oliphant,  my  own 


4  HIS    PARENTAGE    AND    CHILDHOOD. 

ancestor,  and  the  founder,  it  is  believed,  of  the 
picturesque  old  house  called  Kellie  Castle,  in  the 
rural  parish  of  Carnbee,  still  standing  in  perfect 
repair,  and  most  admirably  restored  by  its  late 
inmate.  Professor  Lorimer  of  Edinburgh.  The 
barony  was  conferred  afterwards  upon  the  head 
of  the  house  in  1467.  It  was  renewed  on  failure 
of  the  direct  male  line  by  Charles  I.  in  1657, 
and  became  extinct  in  1751.  In  the  meantime  the 
family  threw  off  many  branches,  one  of  the  latest 
of  which  was  that  of  Condie,  which  bears  the 
three  crescents,  "within  a  bordure  counter  com- 
pony  gules  and  argent,"  and  changed  the  original 
crest  of  a  Unicorn's  head  to  that  of  "  a  Falcon 
volant,"  and  the  old  thrifty  motto  A  Tout  j^our- 
voir,  which,  I  am  proud  to  say,  was  retained  by 
the  Kellie  branch,  into  the  newer  fashion  of  a 
Latin  proverb,  Altiora  Peto,  of  which,  the  reader 
will  remember,  the  most  brilliant  descendant  of 
the  house  of  Condie  made  in  after  days  a  whim- 
sical use. 

I  am  grieved  to  say  that  none  of  the  many 
branches  of  the  house  have  done  anything  very 
remarkable  in  life.  The  Jacobite  Lairds  of  Gask 
have  supj^lied  an  interesting  volume  to  Scots 
family  history  by  means  of  their  present  rep- 
resentative, Mr  Kington  Oliphant,  whose  own 
achievements   in  philology  and   cognate  subjects 


THE    OLIPHANTS    OF    CONDIE.  5 

are  not  small  ;  and  Caroline  Ollphant,  after- 
wards Lady  Nairne,  of  the  same  family,  was  one 
of  the  band  of  women-poets,  full  of  the  native 
music  and  delightful  natural  sentiment  of  their 
country,  who  have  left  so  pleasant  and  so  bright 
a  tradition  behind  them.  Perhaps  no  work  of 
genius  ever  gained  a  more  universal  or  delightful 
fame  for  its  author  than  the  song,  "  The  Land  o' 
the  Leal,"  written  by  this  accomplished  woman, 
has  done.  Otherwise  the  record  of  the  name  is 
like  the  shield  of  Sir  Torr — void  of  achievement. 
The  house  of  Condie  was  no  exception  to  this 
law :  country  gentlemen,  Scots  lawyers,  a  sol- 
dier brother  now  and  then,  have  maintained  the 
worthy  tradition  of  one  of  those  plain  Scotch 
families,  in  whose  absence  of  distinction  so  much 
modest  service  to  their  country  is  implied.  An- 
thony Oliphant,  a  second  son  of  the  house,  went 
farther  afield  than  to  the  Parliament  House  of 
Edinburgh,  and  found  his  fortune  in  the  colonies, 
where  he  held  various  dignified  posts.  Sixty 
years  ago  he  was  Attorney-General  at  the  Cape, 
where  he  married  Miss  Maria  Campbell,  the 
daughter  of  Colonel  Campbell  of  the  7  2d  High- 
landers, and  his  wife,  a  member  of  the  large 
and  important  family  of  Cloete ;  and  there,  at 
Cape  Town,  in  the  year  1829,  Laurence  was 
born.     He  was  the  only  child  of  a  pair  both  of 


b  HIS    PARENTAGE    AND    CHILDHOOD. 

whom  were  notable  in  their  way  :  she,  full  of 
the  vivacity  and  character  which  descended  to 
her  son  ;  he  also  a  man  of  much  individual  power 
and  originality,  an  excellent  lawyer  and  trusted 
official.  Both  were  deeply  stamped  with  the  form 
of  religious  feeling  which  was  most  general  among 
pious  minds  at  the  time.  There  is  no  scorn  of 
religion  implied  in  the  fact  that  it  too  has  its 
fashions,  which  shape  in  successive  waves  the  gene- 
rations as  they  go.  This  couple  were  evangelical 
in  their  sentiments,  after  the  strictest  fashion  of 
that  devout  and  much-abused  form  of  faith.  The 
constant  self-examination,  the  minute  and  scrupu- 
lous record  of  every  little  backsliding,  the  horror 
of  those  gaieties  and  seductions  of  the  world  (much 
modified,  in  fact,  by  that  considerable  share  in 
them  which  their  position  made  necessary),  which 
were  but  too  ag-reeable  to  the  social  instincts  of 
both,  is  characteristically  evident  in  a  letter  which 
Sir  Anthony,  then  Chief-Justice  of  Ceylon,  ad- 
dressed to  his  little  son  Laurence,  ten  years  old, 
at  that  time  in  England  with  his  mother,  and 
whose  tender  mind  the  parents  were  so  anxious 
to  train  into  the  ways  of  godliness.  The  glimpse 
this  letter  gives  of  the  natural  man,  a  little  warm 
of  temper,  a  little  rash  in  ejaculation,  underneath 
the  cloak  of  the  conscientious  Christian,  who  felt 
that  for  every  idle  word  he  would  be  called  to 


SIR  Anthony's  letter. 


judgment,  is,  if  I  may  dare  to  say  it,  amusing  as 
well  as  attractive,  though  the  intention  of  the 
writer  is  far  removed  from  any  such  thought.  It 
is  addressed  to  his  dear  httle  boy,  who  had  been 
very  ill,  and  had  just  recovered  and  written  his  first 
letter,  "  very  well  written  and  spelt,"  to  his  papa. 
This  loving  and  tender  papa  had  been  transferred 
from  the  Cape  to  Ceylon  in  the  absence  of  his 
wife  and  child  in  England,  and  describes  to  his 
little  son  his  extreme  loneliness  in  arriving'  at  his 
new  post. 

"Colombo,  J/a_y  31,  1839. 

"  After  mamma  and  you  went  away  from  the 
Cape  to  England  for  mamma's  health,  mamma 
asked  the  great  people  in  England  to  remove  me 
from  being  Attorney-General  at  the  Cape,  and  to 
make  me  Chief-Justice  at  Ceylon,  and  they  con- 
sented, and  I  went  to  Ceylon  after  mamma  had 
been  a  year  away  ;  and  when  I  arrived  at  Ceylon 
I  heard  that  my  son  had  been  almost  dead,  and 
that  mamma  was  so  ill  that  it  was  not  likely 
she  would  ever  come  out  to  me,  and  I  became 
very  sorry  :  and  I  did  not  see  anybody  that  I 
have  ever  known  before.  There  was  no  John 
Bell,  nor  Lady  Catherine,  nor  General  Napier, 
nor  Cecilia,  nor  Johnstone,  nor  Janet,  nor  the 
Butlers,  nor  any  other  body  to  comfort  me  or 
speak  about  mamma  with,  nor  anybody  except 


8  HIS    PAEENTAGE   AND    CHILDHOOD. 

Mr  Selby  and  George  that  cared  about  me.     I 
felt  very  low-spirited  and  lonely,  and  like  a  tree 
standing  by  itself  that   has  lost   all   its   leaves, 
and  I  looked  about  for  somebody  that  I  thought 
would    not    think    it    tiresome    to    hear    about 
mamma  and  you,   and  as  I  did   not   know  any- 
body,  or  what  sort  of  dispositions   they  had,   I 
was  obliged  to  guess  by  their  faces.     I  saw  an 
officer,  who  was  tall  and  thin  like  Kobert  Baillie 
of  the    72d,    and    I    thought   that  he  looked  of 
an  affectionate  mild  disposition,  like  dear  Jimmy 
Erskine,  and  Cousin  Day,  and  Carolus  Graham, 
who    are    so    fond    of    us,    and    that    he   would 
let   me    speak  to  him  about  my  wife   and  child 
without  thinking  it  tiresome,  and  that  he  would 
let    me    love    him    and    be    kind    to    him    like 
Jimmy  and  the  other  cousins,  although   he  was 
no   relation.       So    one   day   I  took    him  a   drive 
into    the    country    with    me.       I    had    been    so 
long  living    by    myself   without    having    prayers 
every  morning  at  breakfast-time  and  on  Sunday 
evenings,   that   I  had  fallen  away   a  great    deal 
from  the  love  and  fear  of  God,  and  God  had  left 
me   to   myself   in    a   great    measure,    because    I 
had   neglected   His  Word    and   become   careless. 
But    God   had  not  turned   away   His  face  alto- 
gether, but  only  hid  it,  neither  had  He  forgotten 
or  forsaken  me,  because  you  know  it  is  written, 


THE  JUDGE  AND  THE  OFFICER.         9 

*A  woman  may  forget  her  sucking  child,  yet 
will  I  not  forget  thee,  saith  the  Lord ' ;  and  also, 
'  I  will  never  leave  thee  nor  forsake  thee.'  So  I 
had  become  careless  in  my  sj)eech,  and  used  bad 
words  thoughtlessly,  that  I  had  got  into  the 
habit  of  using  when  I  was  a  young  man  and 
frequented  gay  company,  and  I  spoke  foolish 
things  for  want  of  something  to  say." 

This  picture,  drawn  by  his  own  hand,  of  so 
important  a  member  of  society  in  the  busy  and 
prosperous  colony,  the  chief  law  officer  of  the 
Crown,  casting  his  eyes  about  with  a  remnant 
of  the  shyness  of  his  Scotch  youth,  to  see  what 
face  among  the  new  society  around  looked  kind 
enough  to  be  made  a  confidant  of,  and  who  there 
was  who  would  listen  to  his  anxious  talk  about 
his  wife  and  child  without  finding  it  tiresome, 
is  most  engaging  and  attractive.  All  did  not 
go  well,  however,  in  this  first  drive.  One 
wonders  what  the  Chief-Justice  said,  with  that 
grave  young  officer  sitting  by, — whether  he 
launched  too  vigorous  an  epithet  at  an  unwilling 
horse,  or  held  in  a  too  impetuous  one  with  an 
objurgation,  and  what  were  the  foolish  things  to 
which  he  gave  utterance,  before  he  ventured  to 
open  his  heart  as  he  desired,  about  his  pretty 
young  wife,  who  was  far  away,  and  little  Lau- 


10  HIS    PARENTAGE    AND    CHILDHOOD. 

rence,  who  was  the  Hght  of  their  eyes.  The 
Officer — one  feels  it  necessary  to  put  his  name 
with  a  capital,  as  if  he  had  been  in  '  Sandford 
and  Merton ' — made  no  remark  upon  his  eminent 
companion's  freedom  of  speech ;  but  when  the 
Chief- Justice  asked  him  to  dinner  some  time 
later,  declined,  on  the  score  that  "  by  mixing 
in  society  I  am  acting  inconsistently  with  my 
religious  principles."  This  excuse  awoke  the 
slumbering  conscience  of  Sir  Anthony,  who  wrote 
again  to  the  young  soldier,  asking  if  it  was  any- 
thino-  in  him,  in  his  conduct  or  conversation, 
which  had  occasioned  the  refusal,  or  if  it  was 
merely  on  general  principles  —  in  which  latter 
case  he  hoped  that  they  might  still  meet,  as 
people  of  similar  minds,  in  their  evening  rides  or 
drives,  and  that  if  the  absent  wife  was  ever  able 
to  join  him,  she  as  well  as  he  might  have  the 
advantage  of  the  pious  youth's  society.  This 
elicited  a  letter  full  of  feeling  from  the  young 
soldier,  and  a  warm  friendship  was  formed. 

The  whole  narrative  breathes  of  a  time  gone  by. 
I  fear  we  should  be  disposed  to  think  the  Officer 
sanctimonious  and  a  religious  prig  in  these  changed 
days.  But  the  genuine  humility  and  moral  sen- 
sitiveness of  the  middle  -  aged  lawyer,  judge 
and  autocrat  in  his  own  sphere,  is  exceedingly 
touching  and  beautiful.     These  are  not  exactly 


THE    CHIEF- justice's    IDEAL.  11 

the  qualities  we  look  for  in  a  Chief-Justice,  any 
more  than  the  shy  outlook  for  a  sympathetic  face. 
He  was  so  much  impressed  by  the  incident  alto- 
gether that  he  reported  it  thus  at  great  length 
to  his  child,  in  the  hope  that  when  his  Lowry  was 
as  big  as  the  Officer  in  question  "  he  will  do  ex- 
actly as  he  did."  "  When  I  am  better  acquainted 
with  him  I  shall  ask  him,  that  in  case  I  should  die 
soon,  and  he  is  ever  near  my  son,  to  go  to  him, 
and  ask  him  if  he  ever  associates  with  people 
from  whom  he  can  learn  anything  bad,  and  to 
ask  him  to  show  him  this  letter,  and  if  he  acts 
upon  it.  And  my  Lowry  must  keep  this  letter 
which  I  now  write,  and  read  it  always  on  his 
birthday  ;  and  if  he  is  able  to  draw  all  the  morals 
from  it  that  it  contains,  and  to  act  as  Mr  B.  did, 
if  he  never  meets  Mr  B.  on  earth,  he  will  be  happy 
with  him  in  heaven.  And  I  write  this  for  my 
son's  welfare,  and  that  mamma  may  know  that 
there  is  somebody  here  who  will  love  and  take 
care  of  papa  when  she  is  far  away."  The  Chief- 
Justice  of  Ceylon  is  a  little  confused  in  style, 
though  that  arose  no  doubt  from  writing  down 
to  his  correspondent  of  ten,  and  his  appearance 
here  is  not  what  we  should  expect  from  his 
imposing  position  and  authority :  but  how  de- 
lightful is  the  glimpse  of  him  thus  afforded ! 
Chief -justices,    after    all,    are    but    men ;    they 


12  HIS    PARENTAGE    AND    CHILDHOOD. 

yearn  for  wife  and  child  like  the  humblest 
individual,  and  are  subject  to  the  influence  of 
human  approbation  or  disapproval.  But  few, 
very  few,  are  those  who  would  admit  or  yield 
to  the  tacit  reproof  of  a  stranger  wdth  such 
a  tender  conscience  and  so  much  humility.  I 
fear  his  son  would  have  been  disposed  to  laugh 
at  the  Officer  and  his  grave  young  face. 

The  mother  and  child,  thus  so  far  separated 
from  the  tender  and  longing  head  of  the  house, 
spent  some  part  of  their  time  coming  and  going 
at  Condie,  the  ancestral  home — "  sweet  Condie," 
as  little  Lowry  called  it — the  old  Scotch  mansion- 
house  of  which  he  spoke  in  after  and  graver 
years.  There  is  a  pretty  anecdote  of  his  child- 
hood here,  which  seems  to  point  at  even  an 
earlier  age  than  that  mature  ten  years  which  he 
possessed  when  his  father  \vrote  the  letter  above 
quoted.  Certain  ladies  of  the  neighbourhood, 
coming  to  call  upon  the  laird's  sister  -  in  -  law, 
young  Mrs  Anthony  from  the  Caj)e,  w^ere  intro- 
duced into  the  drawing-room,  w^here  there  seemed 
to  be  nobody,  but  where  the  small  boy  was  play- 
ing with  his  box  of  bricks  in  a  corner.  Perhaps 
the  visitors  did  not  perceive  him  ;  perhaps  thought 
him  too  young  to  note  what  they  were  saying, 
which  was  an  imprudent  confidence.  At  all 
events,  they  began  to  talk  of  the  lady  they  were 


LOWRYS    EXPRESSIVE    EYES.  13 

waiting  to  see — what  a  pretty  young  woman  she 
was,  and  what  a  jDity  the  child  should  be  so  plain. 
At  this  point  they  were  startled  by  the  sudden 
ujDlifting  of  a  small  voice  from  the  corner.  "Ah," 
said  the  boy,  moved,  yet  philosophically,  im- 
partially, by  the  criticism  upon  himself,  "  but  I 
have  very  ex|)ressive  eyes."  The  sense  of  humour, 
which  never  deserted  him,  must  thus  have  shown 
itself  at  a  very  early  period. 

There  is  not  very  much  appearance  of  it,  how- 
ever, in  the  schoolboy  letters  which  he  wrote 
from  Mr  Parr's  school  at  Durnford  Manor,  near 
Salisbury,  where  he  began  his  education.  They 
are  amusing  sometimes,  as  every  child's  letters 
are,  with  their  jumble  of  subjects  and  transparent 
innocent  self-absorption ;  but  it  is  happily  evi- 
dent that  little  Lowry,  though  something  of  a 
hothouse  plant,  brought  up  at  his  mother's  feet, 
had  none  of  the  precocious  development  com- 
mon to  children  accustomed  to  the  constant 
society  of  their  elders.  The  little  letters  are 
often  accompanied  by  a  note  from  the  lady  of 
the  house,  apologetic  of  poor  Lowry 's  carelessness, 
or  his  handwriting,  or  the  difficulty  there  was  in 
getting  him  to  write.  On  one  occasion  he  loses 
his  mother's  letter  before  he  has  finished  reading 
it,  and  begs  her  in  the  next  to  put  down  "  some 
of  the  most  importinate  facts  "  of  the  lost  epistle. 


14  HIS    PARENTAGE    AND    CHILDHOOD. 

His  style  certainly  lacks  clearness.  "All  to- 
gether," he  says,  "  I  am  third  in  my  class. 
Graeme,  Alfred  Montague,  a  queer  little  beggar, 
who  sends  his  complemences  to  you,  but  a  nice 
little  chap  upon  the  whole,  he  was  sitting  next 
and  rubbed  it  all  out,  till  Mr  Waring  told  him 
to  go  away."  On  another  occasion  he  begs  his 
dear  mamma  to  let  him  send  his  letter  on  Tues- 
day, because  it  is  more  convenient,  and  because 
Alfred  Montague  sends  his  on  Tuesday.  He 
counts  the  weeks  till  the  holidays,  yet  thinks 
on  the  whole  the  time  passes  very  quickly.  "  We 
generally  have  what  we  call  larks  at  night,"  says 
the  candid  little  boy.  "  There  are  two  boys  that 
are  very  passionate,  and  we  like,  of  course,  to 
tease  them.  We  shut  them  up  in  the  fives- 
court,  and  they  got  in  such  what  the  boys  call 
a  wax,  which  means  a  rage."  "  Do  excuse  my 
both  bad  writing,  and  am  not  inclined  for  writ- 
ing," he  adds.  In  another  Lowry  falls  a  little 
into  the  vein  of  religious  retrospection  in  which 
he  has  been  trained.  "  You  asked  me  to  speak 
to  you  as  I  used  to  do,"  he  says ;  "  I  should  tell 
you  some  more  of  my  besetting  sins.  One  of 
them  is  my  not  saying  my  prayers  as  I  ought, 
hurrying  over  them  to  get  up  in  the  morning 
because  I  am  late,  and  at  night  because  it  is 
cold ;  another  is  my  hiding  what  I  do  naughty 


LITTLE    LETTEES.  15 

and  keeping  it  from  Mr  Parr's  eyes,  not  thinking 
the  eye  of  God  is  upon  me,  a  greater  eye  than 
man's ;  and  another  my  cribing  things  from 
other  boys,  which  is  another  word  for  steal- 
ing—  not  exactly  stealing,  but  leads  to  it." 
After  this  calm  discrimination  of  morals,  he  goes 
on  to  other  matters.  "  I  am  such  a  horrid 
sumer  "  (sum-er — i.e.,  arithmetician),  he  says,  with 
felicitous  vexation ;  "  it  is  that  that  gets  me 
down  in  my  class  so  much.  I  was  perfectly 
beaten  last  week,  for  they  brought  me  down 
from  top  to  bottom."  There  are  many  people 
who  will  feel  the  deepest  sympathy  with  Lowry 
in  his  tribulations  as  a  "horrid  sumer."  "Ex- 
cuse the  blots,"  he  adds ;  "  but  I  put  it  in  my 
shelf,  and  when  I  came  to  get  it  to  finish  it,  and 
it  was  out  on  the  table — but  I  must  now  finish, 
for  I  am  impatient."  It  cannot  be  said  that  the 
writing  is  much  to  Lowry 's  credit,  and  the  anx- 
ious excuses  of  his  master's  wife  are  not  with- 
out justification.  But  it  is  very  touching  to 
find  these  little  letters  so  carefully  preserved 
after  fifty  long  years,  so  living  in  their  childish 
freedom  and  confusion  of  over-active  thought. 
The  little  fellow  was  not  clever,  so  far  as  ap- 
peared ;  but  he  was  the  light  of  his  mother's 
eyes,  and  already  a  favourite  everywhere, — the 
brightest    restless    child,    always    doing,   forming 


16  HIS    PARENTAGE    AND    CHILDHOOD. 

already  his  succinct  little   opinions  upon  things 
and  men. 

In  1841,  Lady  Oliphant — who  during  this  in- 
terval had  been  spending  her  time  partly  in 
England,  partly  in  Scotland  :  at  the  j)aternal 
house  of  Condie,  which  was  paradise  to  Lowry 
in  the  holidays ;  at  Wimbledon,  in  the  house  of 
Major  Oliphant,^  another  brother  of  her  husband, 
where  the  boy  found  comrades  and  companions 
of  an  age  similar  to  his  own ;  and  for  a  consider- 
able period  in  Edinburgh — joined  Sir  Anthony  in 
Ceylon.  But  it  soon  became  apparent  that  to 
be  separated  thus  from  her  only  child  was  too 
great  a  strain  upon  the  happiness  and  health  of 
the  tender  mother ;  and  she  had  not  been  long 
settled  in  the  island  before  imperative  orders 
were  sent  home  for  the  return  of  Lowry,  accom- 
panied by  a  tutor  who  could  carry  on  his  educa- 
tion. "  Send  out  the  kid  at  once "  was,  I  have 
been  told,  the  telegraphic  summons ;  but  this 
must  be  a  fond  invention  of  later  days,  for  there 
was  then  no  telegraph,  nor  was  Sir  Anthony 
at  all  likely  to  use  such  an  expression.  This 
decision  was  simplified  by  the  fact  that  there 
were    two    boys,    the    sons    of    Mr    Moydart,   a 

1  Afterwards  Lieutenant-Colonel  James  Oliphant,  for  many  years 
a  director  of  the  East  India  Company,  and  chairman  of  that  body 
in  1854. 


THE    FIRST    TUTOR.  17 

neighbour  at  Colombo,  of  an  age  to  share  his 
lessons,  and  afford  boyish  company  for  the  Chief- 
Justice's  only  child.  Laurence,  who  had  followed 
his  schoolmaster,  Mr  Parr,  to  Preston,  in  Lanca- 
shire, where  that  gentleman  had  accepted  a  liv- 
ing, was  summoned  from  school  in  all  haste,  and 
the  much  -  trusted  Uncle  James  at  Wimbledon 
was  charged  with  the  choice  of  the  tutor.  The 
gentleman  selected  by  Major  Oliphant  was  Mr 
Gepp,  now  vicar  of  Higher  Easton,  near  Chelms- 
ford, a  very  young  man  just  from  Oxford,  to 
whom,  as  to  his  pupil,  the  long  journey  overland, 
then  a  new  route,  and  captivating  to  the  imagina- 
tion, was  a  great  frolic  and  delight. 

By  this  time  Lowry  had  developed  out  of 
the  early  stage  of  childhood  into  an  active  and 
lively  boy,  eager  for  new  experiences,  and  all 
the  novelty  and  movement  that  were  to  be 
had.  One  bustling  delightful  visit  he  had  at 
Condie  to  celebrate  the  marriage  of  his  uncle, 
where  there  were  tenants'  dinners  and  outdoor 
dances,  at  which  Lowry  "  kissed  the  lassies " 
with  whom  he  danced,  in  delightful  emulation 
of  another  young  and  gay  uncle.  He  was  be- 
tween twelve  and  thirteen,  with  all  his  facul- 
ties awake,  and  his  whole  being  agog  for  novelty 
and  incident,  when  he  set  out  to  join  his 
parents   in   the    late    winter    of  1841.      He    has 

VOL.    I.  B 


18       HIS  PARENTAGE  AND  CHILDHOOD. 

himself  given  an  account  of  this,  the  first 
great  journey  which  he  made  independently,  the 
first  he  could  fully  recollect.  It  is  astonishing  to 
note  the  enormous  difference  between  the  means 
of  travelling  then  and  now,  although  the  modern 
age  of  rapid  movement  had  set  in,  and  the  Eng- 
lish world  was  already  exceedingly  proud  of  itself 
for  its  first  steps  towards  speed  and  ease  in  that 
long  journey,  the  most  important  and  momentous 
of  all  to  Englishmen.  From  Boulogne,  "  where 
we  arrived  in  a  steamer  direct  from  London 
Bridge" — to  Marseilles  occupied  eight  days  and 
five  nights  of  incessant  diligence  travel,  varied 
by  the  incident  of  sticking  in  the  snow  at 
Chalons,  from  which  they  had  to  be  dug  out. 
The  mail  train  rattles  across  the  Continent  from 
Calais  to  Brindisi  now  in  three  days.  Yet  I 
suspect  Laurence  and  his  companion  had  the  best 
of  it.  Packed  up  in  the  banquette  of  the  old- 
fashioned  diligence,  they  saw  and  enjoyed  every- 
thing,— the  new  unfamiliar  landscape,  the  quaint 
villages,  the  old  towns,  the  winterly  brightness 
of  France,  newer  and  more  original  to  them  than 
anything  is  now  to  eyes  so  accustomed  to  discount 
every  novelty  as  ours  are.  And  the  jolting,  dirt, 
and  wretchedness  of  the  most  highly  organised 
train  de  luxe,  with  its  sleeping -carriages  and 
dining-saloons,  one  more  odious  than  the  other. 


THE    FIRST    ADVENTURES.  19 

yet  the  last  word  of  luxurious  organisation  and 
supposed  comfort  in  travelling  —  are  a  poor 
exchange  for  the  more  leisurely  progress,  which 
at  least  permitted  a  tranquil  meal  now  and  then, 
and  unfolded  the  country  through  which  he 
passed,  and  many  amusing  and  agreeable  incidents 
to  the  traveller. 

"  Adventures,"  somebody  says,  "  come  to  the 
adventurous,"  and  this  first  voyage  of  the  boy 
who  had  so  many  before  him  was  signalised  by 
a  visit,  made  necessary  by  an  accident,  to  Mocha, 
a  place  very  little  visited  either  then  or  now  by 
the  Giaour,  and  where  the  Shereef  w^as  exceed- 
ingly civil  to  the  English  travellers — a  civility, 
I  believe,  explained  by  the  fact  that  an  English 
gunboat  lay  not  far  off,  though  the  strangers 
were  unaware  of  this  strong  inducement  to  polite- 
ness on  the  part  of  their  entertainers.  The  voy- 
age altogether,  with  the  repeated  breakdowns  of 
the  ship  and  pauses  for  repairs  (there  was  then 
no  P.  &  0.),  lasted  about  three  months.  Vie  are 
not  told  to  what  pitch  of  despairing  anxiety  the 
parents  in  Ceylon  had  been  driven  by  all  this 
delay.  But  at  last  it  came  to  an  end,  and  Lowry 
settled  down  in  the  new  brilliant  Eastern  world, 
where  everything  was  a  wonder,  to  his  lessons 
with  Mr  Gepp  and  the  Moydart  boys,  and  to  that 
close  companionship  with  his  mother  which  occu- 


20  HIS    PARENTAGE   AND    CHILDHOOD. 

pled  SO  large  a  portion  of  his  life.  She  was  still 
a  young  woman — "  there  were  but  eighteen  years 
between  us,"  he  used  to  say ;  and  though  Lady 
Oliphant  loved  to  be  obeyed,  yet  she  had  from 
his  infancy  placed  the  boy — the  "  Darling,"  as  his 
father  invariably  calls  him,  with  a  little  affection- 
ate mockery — in  a  position  of  influence  and  equal- 
ity not  perhaps  very  safe  for  a  child,  but  always 
delightful  between  these  two  ;  for  the  quick- 
witted and  sharp  -  sighted  boy  had  always  a 
chivalrous  tenderness  for  his  mother,  even  when, 
as  hap^^ened  sometimes,  he  found  it  necessary  to 
keep  her  in  her  proper  place.  I  have  been  told 
an  amusinof  little  illustration  of  this  in  an  inci- 
dent  that  happened  one  morning  when,  the 
tutor's  scheme  of  work  appearing  unsatisfactory 
to  Lady  Oliphant,  she  came  into  the  schoolroom 
to  announce  her  desire  that  it  should  be  altered. 
To  do  this  before  the  open-eyed  and  all-observant 
boys  was,  perhaps,  not  very  judicious,  and  the 
young  preceptor  was  wounded  and  vexed.  There 
was  probably  a  sirocco,  or  its  equivalent,  blowing 
— that  universal  excuse  for  every  fault  of  temper 
in  warm  latitudes — and  a  quarrel  was  imminent, 
when  Lowry  rose  from  his  books  and  came  to  the 
rescue.  "  Mamma,  this  is  not  the  right  place  for 
you,"  said  the  heaven-born  diplomat,  offering  her 
his  arm,  with  the  fine  manners  which  no  doubt 


lowry's  education.  21 

she  had  been  at  such  pains  to  teach  him,  and 
leading  her  away — no  doubt  half  amused,  half 
pleased,  although  half  angry,  with  the  social 
skill  of  the  boy. 

An  education  thus  conducted,  and  subject  to 
all  the  social  interruptions  of  the  lively  colonial 
life,  where  visitors  were  continually  coming  and 
going,  and  the  house  of  the  Chief  -  Justice  a 
centre  of  entertainment  and  pleasant  friendli- 
ness, must  have  had  its  drawbacks.  But  ex- 
cept for  the  short  period  at  Salisbury  and 
Preston  when  he  was  a  little  boy,  Laurence 
never  was  subjected  to  educational  discipline 
of  a  severe  kind.  He  was  one  of  the  pupils 
of  Life,  educated  mainly  by  what  his  keen  eyes 
saw  and  his  quick  ears  heard,  and  his  clear 
understanding  and  lively  wit  picked  up,  amid 
human  intercourse  of  all  kinds.  He  was  in  no 
way  the  creation  of  school  or  college.  When,  as 
happens  now  and  then,  an  education  so  desul- 
tory, so  little  consecutive  or  steady  as  his,  pro- 
duces a  brilliant  man  or  woman,  we  are  apt  to 
think  that  the  accidental  system  must  be  on  the 
whole  the  best,  and  education  a  delusion,  like  so 
many  other  cherished  things ;  but  the  conclusion 
is  a  rash  one,  and  it  is  perhaps  safest  in  this,  as 
in  so  many  other  directions,  to  follow  the  beaten 
way.     I  do  not  think  he  himself  ever  regretted 


22  HIS    PARENTAGE    AND    CHILDHOOD, 

it,  and  he  had  httle  or  none  of  the  traditionary 
resjDect  for  university  training  which  is  so  general. 
He  had  a  most  cheerful  delightful  life,  between 
the  gay  little  capital  Colombo — where  he  knew 
everybody,  and  saw  everything  that  occurred, 
and  took  his  share  in  entertaining  great  officials, 
governors  and  suchlike,  on  their  way  to  and  from 
India,  as  well  as  less  important  crowds,  civil 
and  military — and  that  home  of  health,  Newera 
Ellia,  among  the  hills,  which  the  01i|)hants  were 
among  the  first  to  make  ]3opular.  In  after  days  a 
continual  flight  of  letters,  daily  recording  every- 
thing that  happened,  went  up  to  that  green  and 
wholesome  spot  from  the  young  man  of  much 
business  in  the  court  at  Colombo  and  elsewhere, 
to  his  mother  ;  but  in  the  meantime  Lowry  ac- 
companied her  in  all  her  moves,  and  the  strong- 
bond  of  united  life,  so  possible,  so  perfect,  be- 
tween an  intelligent  child  and  a  woman  full  of 
simplicity,  notwithstanding  her  intelligence  and 
maturity,  grew  stronger  day  by  day. 


23 


CHAPTER    11. 


BEGINNING  LIFE. 


It  was  not,  however,  so  much  the  mtention  of 
his  parents,  who  were  fully  purposed  to  complete 
their  son's  education  in  the  usual  way,  as  accident, 
which  secured  to  Laurence  the  exemption  from 
ordinary  studies  and  restraints,  which  conduced  so 
much  to  make  him  what  he  was.  He  had  been 
sent  home  ao-ain  to  the  care  of  a  tutor  in  Enof- 
land,  about  whom  I  have  not  been  able  to  obtain 
any  information,  and  was  being  prepared  for  the 
university  and  the  ordinary  course  of  a  young 
Englishman's  training,  when  his  father  returned 
to  England  from  Ceylon  with  a  two  years'  leave 
of  absence — the  first  real  holiday  which  probably 
the  hardworkino-  Judg-e  had  ever  had.  "  I  was 
on  the  point  of  going  up  to  Cambridge  at  the 
time,"  says  Laurence,  in  his  '  Episodes  from  a 
Life  of  Adventure ' ;  "  but  when  he  announced 
that  he  intended  to  travel  for  a  couple  of  years 


24  BEGINNING    LIFE. 

with  my  mother  on  the  Contment,  I  represented 
so  strongly  the  sujDerior  advantages,  from  an 
educational  point  of  view,  of  European  travel 
over  ordinary  scholastic  training,  and  my  argu- 
ments were  so  urgently  backed  by  my  mother, 
that  I  found  myself,  to  my  great  delight,  trans- 
ferred from  the  quiet  of  a  Warwickshire  vicarage 
to  the  Champs  Elysees  in  Paris ;  and,  after  pass- 
ing the  winter  there,  spent  the  following  year 
roaming  over  Germany,  Switzerland,  and  the 
Tyrol."  It  was  in  the  year  1846  that  this  trans- 
formation was  effected,  and  the  boy  turned  once 
for  all  into  the  "  rolling  stone "  which  he  con- 
tinued to  be  for  all  the  rest  of  his  life.  There 
could  be  no  more  exciting  period  for  a  plunge 
into  the  Continent,  which  was  so  entirely  new  to 
the  little  party  of  travellers — as  novel  and  strange 
as  if  they  had  been  rustics  newly  setting  out  from 
their  fields — notwithstanding  their  acquaintance 
with  the  Eastern  world  and  places  far  away.  "  I 
often  wondered,  while  thus  engaged,"  he  con- 
tinues, "  whether  I  was  not  more  usefully  and 
instructively  employed  than  labouring  painfully 
over  the  diflPerential  calculus ;  and  whether  the  exe- 
crable j^citois  of  the  peasants  in  the  Italian  valleys, 
which  I  took  great  pains  in  acquiring,  was  not 
likely  to  be  of  quite  as  much  use  to  me  in  after- 
life as  ancient  Greek,"     This  is  a  question  which 


HIS    UNUSUAL    EDUCATION.  25 

it  is  never  very  easy  to  answer.  If  it  were  put  in 
another  form,  and  we  were  to  ask  whether  the 
brilHant  and  remarkable  individuality  of  Laurence 
Oliphant  were  not  worth  a  host  of  ordinary 
university  men  trimmed  to  one  pattern,  it  would 
be  simple  enough  ;  yet  we  may  be  permitted  to 
believe  that  the  ancient  Greek  and  the  profounder 
culture  mio-ht  have  saved  him  and  the  world  from 
some  wild  dreams  of  after-life,  without  diminish- 
ing the  originality  and  force  of  his  being.  These, 
however,  are  speculations  without  use ;  for  no 
doubt  the  manner  of  development  is  all  involved 
in  the  j)roduct,  and  no  man  can  contradict  his 
nature.  However,  this  free  life  and  acquaintance 
in  the  dawn  of  individual  intelligence  with  the 
ways  of  thinking  and  life  of  other  nations,  had 
doubtless  much  to  do  in  determinino^  his  career. 

In  1847,  the  family  party,  ensconced  in  the  com- 
fortable ark  used  in  old  days  by  such  leisurely 
travellers,  with  its  varying  team  of  four  or  six 
horses,  according  as  it  climbed  or  descended  the 
mountain  road,  passed  across  the  Alps  to  Italy, 
then  seething  with  a  universal  fever  of  revolution. 
There  never  was  such  ideal  travelling  as  in  this 
lurching,  heavy,  altogether  delightful  vehicle, 
packed  in  a  hundred  pockets  with  everything 
one  could  want,  pausing  wherever  it  seemed  good 
to   the   voyager,   and  with    a   long   rest    in    the 


26  BEGINNING    LIFE. 

heat  of  the  day  at  some  dehghtful  old  town  or 
picturesque  village.  The  travellers  thus  gained 
a  knowledge  of  the  country  in  detail — its  end- 
less stores  of  beauty,  its  ever-friendly  peoj^le,  its 
humble  shrines  and  fortresses,  its  overflowing  life, 
such  as  no  hurried  railway  can  afford.  One  can 
travel  all  over  Italy  now  without  hearing  a  word 
of  anything  but  formal  Italian,  the  language  of  the 
books ;  no  need  to  puzzle  what  the  peasants  say, 
though  it  is  often  so  quaint  and  witty.  But  it 
was  otherwise  in  those  days.  No  doubt  Lowry 
occupied  the  covered  banquette  in  front,  from 
which  he  could  give  notice  of  every  new  castello 
or  change  in  the  prospect.  He  was  seventeen,  at 
the  age  when  enjoyment  of  this  kind  is  unalloyed, 
and  the  air  and  movement  and  constant  change 
are  a  pure  delight.  And  at  such  a  crisis  there 
was  much  for  an  intelligent  boy  to  see  and  do. 
The  enthusiasm  which  was  growing  and  swelling 
through  the  entire  country  went  to  his  young 
head,  easily  touched  at  aU  times  by  the  contagion 
of  popular  excitement.  He  recounts  the  "  salient 
features  "  of  this  wonderful  journey  as  "  indelibly 
stamped  upon  my  memory." 

"  I  shall  never  forget  joining  a  roaring  mob  one 
evening,  bent  I  knew  not  upon  what  errand,  and 
getting  forced  by  the  pressure  of  the  crowd,  and 
my  own  eagerness,  into  the  front  rank,  just  as  we 


EEVOLUTION    IN    ITALY.  27 

reached  the  Austrian  Legation,  and  seeing  the 
ladders  passed  to  the  front,  and  placed  against 
the  wall,  and  the  arms  torn  down  :  then  I  re- 
member, rather  from  love  of  excitement  than 
any  strong  political  sympathy,  taking  hold,  with 
hundreds  of  others,  of  the  ropes  which  were  at- 
tached to  them,  and  dragging  them  in  triumph  to 
the  Piazza  del  Popolo,  where  a  certain  Ciceroac- 
chio,  who  was  a  great  tribune  of  the  people  in 
those  days,  and  a  wood-merchant,  had  a  couple  of 
carts  loaded  with  wood  standing  ready  ;  and  T  re- 
member their  contents  being  tumultuously  upset, 
and  heaped  into  a  pile,  and  the  Austrian  arms 
being  dragged  on  the  top  of  them,  and  a  lady— 
I  think  the  Princess  Pamphili  Doria,  who  was 
passing  in  a  carriage  at  the  time — being  com- 
pelled to  descend,  and  being  handed  a  flaming 
torch,  with  which  she  was  requested  to  light  the 
bonfire,  which  blazed  up  amid  the  frantic  demon- 
strations of  delight  of  a  yelling  crowd,  who  formed 
round  it  a  huge  ring,  joining  hands,  dancing  and 
capering  like  demons, — in  all  of  which  I  took  an 
active  part,  getting  home  utterly  exhausted,  and 
feeling  that  somehow  or  other  I  had  deserved  well 
of  my  country, 

"  And  I  remember  upon  another  occasion  being 
roused  from  my  sleep,  about  one  or  two  in  the 
morning,  by  the  murmur  of  many  voices,  and  look- 


28  BEGINNING    LIFE. 

ing  out  of  my  window  and  seeing  a  dense  crowd 
moving  beneath,  and  rushing  into  my  clothes  and 
joining  it — for  even  in  those  early  days  I  had  a 
certain  moss-gathering  instinct — and  being  borne 
along  I  knew  not  whither,  and  finding  myself  at  last 
one  of  a  shrieking,  howling  mob,  at  the  doors  of 
the  Propaganda,  against  which  heavy  blows  were 
being  directed  by  improvised  battering-rams  ;  and 
I  remember  the  doors  crashing  in,  and  the  mob 
crashing  after  them,  to  find  empty  cells  and  de- 
serted corridors,  for  the  monks  had  sought  safety 
in  flight.  And  I  remember  standing  on  the  steps 
of  St  Peter's  while  Pope  Pio  Nono  gave  his  bless- 
ing to  the  volunteers  that  were  leaving  for  Lom- 
bardy  to  fight  against  the  Austrians,  and  seeing 
the  tears  roll  down  his  cheeks — as  I  supposed, 
because  he  hated  so  much  to  have  to  do  it.  These 
are  events  which  are  calculated  to  leave  a  lasting 
impression  on  the  youthful  imagination." 

One  wonders  rather  how  the  excellent  judge 
felt  when  he  found  his  son  thus  rushing  in  where 
full-grown  diplomatists  feared  to  tread,  compro- 
mising himself — if  anybody  had  as  yet  minded 
which  side  Lowry  took — even  perhaps  compromis- 
ing England,  had  it  been  known  that  the  young 
abettor  of  revolution  was  the  son  of  a  distin- 
guished British  ofiicial ;  or  whether  the  mother 
did  not  sufler  agonies  of  anxiety  while  the  crowd 


AT    THE    BAK.  29 

rushed  by  with  her  boy,  as  she  must  have  known, 
in  the  thick  of  the  mischief,  whatever  it  was. 
However,  no  harm  would  seem  to  have  come  of 
it,  unless  indeed  this  first  taste  of  the  sweetness 
of  excitement  and  the  fire  of  the  multitude  in 
motion  awakened  the  latent  spark  in  the  mind  of 
one  destined  to  see  so  much  of  such  movement  in 
after-life. 

At  the  end  of  this  extraordinary  "  education  by 
contact,"  the  remarkable  substitute  for  Cambridge 
which  commended  itself  to  the  Oliphant  family, 
Laurence  returned  with  his  father  to  Ceylon, 
where  he  seems  to  have  been  considered  old 
enough  at  nineteen  to  enter  into  a  quasi-public 
life  as  the  Judge's  secretary,  and  where  he  very 
soon  advanced  to  the  position  of  a  barrister, 
pleading  in  the  supreme  courts,  and  conducting  a 
great  deal  of  very  serious  business.  He  had  been 
engaged  in  "  twenty-three  murder  cases,"  he  him- 
self tells  us,  before  he  had  attained  as  many  years 
of  age.  We  find  a  rapid  outline  of  his  life  at  this 
period  in  the  little  notes  which  he  dashed  off  daily 
from  Colombo  and  other  places  to  his  mother  at 
Newera  Ellia,  the  hill-station  which  is  to  Ceylon 
what  Simla  is  to  India  :  sometimes  written  from 
court  while  the  fate  of  some  of  his  murderers  hung 
in  the  balance,  and  he  cries  out  indignant  that 
had  they  been  but  tried  by  papa  or  before  an 


30  BEGINNING    LIFE. 

English  jury  they  would  have  been  safe ;  some- 
times in  the  moment  before  dinner,  when  he  is 
preparing  to  entertain,  in  his  mother's  place, 
papa's  dinner-party  of  serious  officials  or  distin- 
guished strangers ;  sometimes  from  the  cricket- 
ground  ;  sometimes  after  a  ball.  Lowry  was 
everywhere,  in  the  centre  of  everything,  affec- 
tionately contemptuous  of  papa's  powers  of  taking 
care  of  himself,  and  laying  down  the  law,  in 
delightful  ease  of  love  and  unquestioned  suprem- 
acy, to  his  mother.  There  is  not  a  sentence  in 
those  little  letters  to  quote,  but  they  place  the 
position  before  us  with  the  most  vivid  yet  playful 
clearness.  Papa,  we  may  infer,  smiled  a  little 
sardonically,  with  that  sense  of  amusement  in  the 
precautions  taken  for  him,  which  is  one  of  the 
privileges  of  a  parent ;  but  the  mother  accepted 
it  all,  with  pride  and  confidence  unbounded  in  her 
boy,  to  whom  it  is  evident,  though  he  took  such 
care  of  everybody,  a  great  deal  of  freedom  was 
permitted.  His  shooting  expeditions,  in  which 
he  sometimes  ran  considerable  risk,  for  the  game 
in  Ceylon  is  big  and  dangerous,  were  reproduced 
longf  afterwards  in  sketches  so  brilliant  and  life- 
like  that  it  is  easy  to  see  how  he  must  have 
thrown  himself  into  those  exciting  moments  of 
life  in  the  jungle — though  papa  was  left  to  take 
care  of  himself  at   such    periods   in   the  distant 


LIFE    IN    CEYLON.  31 

assizes  in  different  parts  of  the  island,  whence 
his  son  had  escaped  to  more  exciting  experiences. 
One  does  not  know  whether  any  recollection  of 
this  bright-faced  lad,  with  his  boundless  high 
spirits  and  energy,  still  lingers  in  Ceylon  ;  but  the 
whole  island  comes  to  view  in  his  letters,  in  rapid 
life-giving  touches,  a  sort  of  dissolving  panorama 
of  a  busy  society  in  colonial  completeness,  great 
and  small,  with  its  eager  interests  and  the  buzz 
of  the  hundred  little  intrigues,  arrangements,  dis- 
agreements, all  of  such  absorbing  interest,  all  so 
entirely  dead  and  gone.  The  Governor's  house 
at  Newera  Ellia  still  bears  the  name,  we  believe, 
of  the  Oliphants,  and  the  island  is  governed  from 
the  spot  where  Laurence's  mother  waited  for  her 
daily  courier,  and  saw  through  Lowry's  letters,  as 
in  a  camera,  everything  that  was  being  done. 

This  period  of  home-dwelling,  however,  did  not 
last  very  long.  In  the  end  of  the  year  1850, 
Laurence  being  then  twenty-one,  an  unusual  and 
interesting  visitor  touched  at  Ceylon  on  his  way 
from  England  back  to  India.  He  was  one  of  the 
first  native  envoys  ever  sent  from  the  unknown 
East,  and  his  appearance  had  been  hailed  in  Eng- 
land with  a  warmth  of  curiosity  and  interest  which 
was  fresh  in  these  days,  when  public  curiosity 
had  not  degfenerated  into  the  foolish  and  selfish 
society  fever  over  a  novelty,  w^iich  makes  social 


32  BEGINNING    LIFE. 

success  nowadays  so  little  of  a  compliment.  Jung 
Bahadour  was  a  revelation  to  the  country,  which 
jumped  at  the  idea,  not  unnatural  in  the  then 
ignorance  of  Eastern  affairs,  and  always  delight- 
ful, that  India  was  about  to  accept  with  enthu- 
siasm the  culture  and  sentiments  of  the  West, 
and  that  this  enlightened  and  splendid  native 
prince,  with  his  blazing  diamonds  and  his  ad- 
vanced views,  was  but  the  first  of  a  noble 
harvest  of  liberal  minds  and  civilising  measures 
to  come.  It  is  to  be  supposed  that  he  must  have 
produced  a  similar  impression  at  Ceylon,  notwith- 
standing the  more  complete  knowledge  and  the 
small  public  faith  in  "  natives "  with  which  a 
colonial  community  is  endowed.  At  all  events, 
the  romance  about  him,  the  distance  and  novelty 
of  his  unknown  country  far  away,  and  the  in- 
stinct of  the  traveller  and  adventurer  which  was 
so  strong  in  young  Laurence,  combined  to  sur- 
round the  envoy  with  a  halo  of  attraction.  It 
seems  wonderful  that  an  only  child,  so  cherished 
and  adored,  should  have  been  able  to  persuade 
his  parents  to  consent  to  such  a  wild  expedition. 
But  they  would  seem  at  all  times  to  have  had 
the  most  unbounded  confidence  in  him,  and 
conviction  that  his  impulses  were  not  to  be 
restrained,  nor  his  conduct  made  the  subject  of 
parental  dictation. 


DIVERSE    COUNSELLORS.  33 

It  is  very  probable  that  their  friends  con- 
demned Sir  Anthony  and  his  wife  for  their  fond 
submission  and  concurrence  in  all  Lowry's  vaga- 
ries, as  no  doubt  they  censured  his  want  of 
formal  education  and  the  irregularity  of  his 
training.  On  this  particular  occasion  one  of 
them  at  least  seems  to  have  spoken  out.  "  My 
approval  of  your  retaining  Lowry  in  Ceylon  was 
never  meant  to  extend  to  such  an  excursion  as 
that  which  he  has  undertaken  to  Nepaul,  which 
can  hardly  improve  his  legal  prospects,  financi- 
ally or  professionally,"  says  one  of  the  most 
trusted  counsellors  of  the  family.  Another  friend, 
however,  highly  disapproves  Lady  Oliphant's  de- 
sire to  retain  him  by  her  side,  and  especially 
that  she  should  tell  him  his  father  approves 
while  she  does  not,  thus  raising  a  feeling  of 
conflict  in  his  mind.  "  Let  him  alone,"  this 
lady  says.  Thus  it  was  evident  that  there  were 
debates  on  the  question.  But  the  young  man's 
wishes  carried  the  day.  He  left  Ceylon  with 
his  new  friend  in  December  1851.  The  result 
of  the  expedition  was  a  book,  the  first  of  many 
vivid  sketches  of  adventure,  in  which,  as  hap- 
j)ened  to  him  in  his  general  good  luck  on  more 
than  one  occasion,  he  had  an  entirely  new  field  to 
explore.  What  is  more  important,  however,  for 
our  present  purpose,  is  that  it  brings  us  his  own 

VOL.    I.  C 


34  BEGINNING    LIFE. 

account  of  himself  in  a  series  of  letters,  carefully 
marked  by  his  mother's  hand  No.  1,  2,  &c.,  in 
which  the  story  of  his  first  adventure  by  himself 
in  the  world  is  told.  The  little  narrative  begins 
with  a  sketch  of  a  fellow-passenger  in  the  steamer 
in  which  he  leaves  Ceylon,  whose  character  he 
conceives  to  be  something  like  his  own,  for  which 
idea  it  is  worth  while  to  quote  it. 

"  He  is  a  pleasant  enough  fellow  as  a  com- 
panion, but  abominably  selfish  and  a  thorough 
charlatan.  His  faults  in  the  latter  respect  are 
something  like  mine — in  fact,  I  saw  that  I  might 
well  take  warning  from  him.  His  interest  was 
the  first  thing  which  he  considered,  and  he  was 
rather  unscrupulous  in  making  everything  sub- 
servient to  it.  He  toadied  me  like  fun.  and 
thinks  I  don't  see  through  him.  But  I  must  not 
l^e  so  dreadfully  uncharitable,  though  I  could 
not  but  be  struck  by  the  almost  providential 
neighbourhood  of  a  man  who  seemed  myself 
exaofoferated." 


OC5 


Laurence  must  have  corrected  early  these 
faults,  like  the  "besetting  sin"  of  "  cribing,"  of 
which  he  accuses  himself  on  an  earlier  occasion. 
Certainly,  self-interest  was  the  last  thing  that 
his  worst  enemy  could  lay  to  his  charge. 


LETTERS    TO    HIS    MOTHER.  35 

"  The  Minister "  [Jung  Bahadour],  he  adds, 
"is  a  glorious  fellow,  and  we  are  great  friends. 
He  amused  himself  all  day  shooting  at  bottles. 
I  have  seen  him  hit  three  running  fastened  to 
the  yard-arm  ;  first  hitting  the  bottle  with  right 
barrel,  and  then  the  neck,  which  was  still  hang- 
ing, with  the  left.  He  knows  a  little  English, 
but  his  stock  is  confined  to  making-  love — '  Give 
me  a  kiss,'  and  a  few  other  jDhrases  equally  short 
and  sweet.  We  had  great  fun  jumping,  but  I 
beat  his  head  off,  whereat  he  was  much  dis- 
quieted ;  but  being  determined  not  to  be  done, 
he  immediately  commenced  hanging  by  his  heels 
in  ropes  in  the  most  fantastic  way,  which  I  found 
impossible,  not  having  been,  like  him,  shampooed 
from  earliest  infancy.  Oliphant  Sahib  being  con- 
sidered unpronounceable,  I  am  Lowry  Sahib,  in 
return  for  which  I  call  the  young  colonel  (brother 
of  Jung)  Fe-fi-fo-fum  Sahib,  that  being  the  near- 
est approach  I  can  make  to  his  name." 

Calcutta  the  young  man  found  worth  coming 
to  see,  even  if  he  were  to  go  no  farther,  and  was 
much  amused  to  find  himself  the  fashion,  and 
sought  after  everywhere.  "  The  idea  of  going 
up  to  Nepaul  with  Jung  Bahadour  on  a  shooting 
expedition  is  my  passport  everywhere,  and  con- 
stitutes me   a  lion  at  once.     Mrs  Gordon  takes 


36  BEGINNING    LIFE. 

a  delight  in  introducing  me  to  all  the  big-wigs. 
She  certainly  has  a  great  knack  of  making  one 
feel  satisfied  with  one's  self,  and  would  spoil  the 
most  modest  young  man.  So  you  must  not  mind 
my  giving  myself  airs  when  I  come  back,  unless 
somebody  takes  me  down  a  peg  in  Nepaul.  If 
I  were  going  to  live  in  Calcutta,"  he  adds,  "  I 
should  not  devote  myself  to  seeing  and  being 
seen  in  the  way  I  do  now ;  but  for  a  week  I 
think  I  ought  to  see  as  much  of  men  and  manners 
here  as  j)ossible.  I  hope  you  are  not  afraid  of 
the  gaiety  :  it  is  but  for  a  short  time  and  of  no 
very  serious  nature,  and  I  make  a  point  of  being 
alone  a  good  deal  in  the  morning.  I  hope  you 
will  write  me  a  letter  of  good  advice,  as  I  want 
it  now,  and  certainly  shall  by  the  time  I  shall 
get  it ;  and  never  mind  boring  me — it  won't  at 
all."  Thus  it  will  be  seen  the  boy  was  still  a 
dutiful  boy,  thinking  of  his  mother's  anxieties, 
and  how  much  she  feared  that  balls  and  other 
vanities  and  perpetual  society  would  be  against 
his  spiritual  advantage,  notwithstanding  the  inde- 
pendence and  freedom  of  his  twenty- one  years. 

The  mode  of  travelling,  when  at  last  he  started 
up  country,  was  peculiar,  but  it  seems  to  have 
been  comfortable  enough.  He  and  his  companion 
went  from  Calcutta  to  Benares  in  "a  large  coach 
which   only   holds   two,    but   in   which   two   very 


LETTERS    TO    HIS    MOTHER.  37 

good  beds  can  be  made  up.  In  this,  whicli  is 
very  comfortable,  Cavanagh  and  I  have  been 
living  for  the  last  two  days,  and  shall  have  to 
do  so  for  four  more,  making  it  our  home  both  by 
day  and  night.  Ten  coolies  drag  us  along  a  very 
good  road.  In  the  mornings  and  evenings  we 
walk  alongside  or  sit  on  the  coach-box,  and  if  we 
have  a  lazy  team,  drive  them  along  in  a  most 
barbarous  way.  Papa  would  be  amused  at  this 
specimen  of  Indian  backwardness,  being  dragged 
for  nearly  five  hundred  miles  along  a  magnificent 
road  in  a  four-horse  coach  by  men  instead  of 
horses  the  whole  way.  It  would  have  delighted 
you,  however,"  he  adds,  "  for  the  coolies  never 
shy,  stumble,  nor  run  away,  or  misbehave  in  any 
other  way  but  being  lazy  and  importunate." 

On  arriving  at  Benares  he  found  himself  in  the 
midst  of  the  bustle  of  jji'oparation  for  the  great 
hunting-party  of  which  everybody  was  talking. 

"  Everybody  says  I  am  lucky  to  get  such  a 
chance  of  seeing  sport,  and  fellows  are  making 
all  sorts  of  interest  with  him  [Jung]  to  be 
allowed  to  come  too,  and  I  daresay  we  shall 
make  up  a  formidable  party.  The  Jung  is  an 
immense  lion  among  the  native  princes  here,  who 
all  want  to  go  home.  He  took  up  his  caste 
(forfeited  by  his  voyage)  the  day  before  yester- 


38  BEGINNING    LIFE. 

day,  so  I  missed  the  ceremony  ;  but  it  only  con- 
sisted of  all  the  party  who  had  gone  home  (i.e., 
to  England),  taking  a  bath  in  the  presence  of 
numbers  of  spectators.  He  has  three  hundred 
men  of  the  Nepaul  army  down  here  as  an  escort. 
There  are  six  hundred  elephants  waiting  for  us 
at  Sagaulee  to  beat  the  Terai,  and  if  they  don't 
get  something  out  of  the  jungle,  it's  a  pity. 
Look  for  Sagaulee  on  the  map  :  it  is  on  the  Nepaul 
frontier,  and  we  begin  our  battue  from  there, 
going  some  miles  into  the  Nepaul  country  and 
coming  back  to  it  previous  to  starting  for  Khat- 
mandhu." 

The  account  which  he  gives  his  mother  of  the 
books  he  carried  with  him  to  occupy  his  moments 
of  leisure  is  added.  "  I  think  you  will  approve 
of  the  selection,  — Guizot's  'History  of  English 
Revolution,'  Bourrienne's  '  Memoirs,'  Lord  Mahon's 
'  Life  of  Conde,'  a  Hindostanee  dialogue  —  and 
some  of  Sir  A.  Buller's  small  vols,  of  Paul  de 
Kock,  which  he  has  lent  me."  Let  us  hope  Lady 
Oliphant  believed  these  last  to  be  theological 
treatises. 

"  The  Jung-  is  as  civil  and  kind  to  me  as  ever, 
and  I  am  beginning  to  say  a  word  or  two  to 
him    in    Hindostanee    now.     The  house  abounds 


FRIENDS    IN    INDIA.  39 

In  children,  who  make  the  most  desperate  noise 
in  Hindostanee  without  the  slightest  control. 
To-night  the  Jung  reviews  his  troops  for  the 
benefit  of  the  General,  and  we  are  all  going  to 
see  it,  as  they  say  it  is  a  curious  sight.  He 
showed  me  his  dogs  to-day,  also  his  falcons,  so 
you  may  imagine  me  imhooding  my  bird  as  in 
the  olden  days." 

The  final  scene  of  the  hunting-party  was  only 
reached  after  various  other  detentions  on  the 
road  among  friends  who  sprang  up  upon  the 
young  man's  path  everywhere  :  old  soldiers  who 
had  been  at  school  with  papa,  younger  ones  who 
had  got  their  cadetships  from  Uncle  James,  or 
who  had  married  somebody's  sister  in  one  or 
other  category,  or  who  knew  Perthshire  and  all 
the  people  there,  or  who  had  received  the  hospi- 
tality of  Lady  Oliphant  at  the  Cape, — those  con- 
tingencies which  seem  to  happen  so  much  more 
readily  in  India  than  anywhere  else.  Laurence 
makes  special  note  of  the  young  ladies,  who  were 
generally  pretty,  and  always  lively  and  delightful, 
and  with  whom  he  felt  himself  entitled  to  flirt 
with  much  vehemence,  since  a  single  evening  was 
the  limit  of  his  intercourse  with  them.  "  I  have 
taken  to  making  love  furiously,  as  I  know  I  am 
going  away  immediately,"  is  the  unprincipled  con- 


40  BEGINNING   LIFE. 

fession  he  makes  ;  and  he  begs  his  mother  not  to 
be  afraid  of  his  proceedings  in  this  respect,  which 
would  seem  to  have  been  a  weakness  of  hers.  It 
was  after  a  ball,  and  a  tender  leave-taking  at  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  that  the  young  man  flung 
himself  into  his  palanquin  and  slept  "  far  into  the 
following  day,"  while  his  bearers  jogged  along, 
carrying  him  to  his  destination. 

"  We  found  the  Jung  encamped  in  a  pictur- 
esque spot.  The  scene  altogether  was  very  en- 
livening :  four  thousand  men,  with  elephants, 
horses,  camels,  bivouacking  in  a  large  mango- 
grove,  with  our  hut  pitched  near  the  Jung's,  who, 
when  we  arrived,  was  out  shooting.  We  soon 
joined  him  on  a  gorgeously  attired  elephant 
provided  for  our  use,  and  found  him  on  a  still 
more  handsomely  got  -  up  one,  his  brothers  on 
another.  But  I  must  tell  you  about  his  little 
bride,  who  was  with  him,  a  pretty  little  girl  of 
thirteen  or  fourteen,  almost  as  fair  as  a  European, 
and  as  he  calls  her  '  My  beautiful  missis.'  She  is 
the  daughter  of  the  Coorg  Rajah,  and  was  be- 
trothed to  Jung  in  Benares.  He  seems  very 
fond  of  her,  and  kind  to  her,  and  she  looks  very 
happy.  1  like  him  more  and  more.  He  is  so 
thoroughly  European.  To  give  you  an  instance 
of  it.     One  day,  while  calling  on  him,  the  Rajah  of 


RECEIVING    THE   NATIVES.  41 

Bhurtpore  was  announced,  so  his  guard  turned 
out,  and  the  gentleman  was  received  by  Jung, 
and  led  to  a  couch  with  due  honour,  when  after 
a  complimentary  speech  on  both  sides,  Jung  said 
to  him,  '  Your  Highness  must  excuse  me,  as  I 
have  important  business  with  these  gentlemen,' 
pointing  to  us,  therewith  coolly  leading  the  Rajah 
with  equal  state  to  the  door.  He  came  back  a 
moment  after,  laughing  and  rubbing  his  hands, 
saying,  '  That's  the  way  to  get  over  an  interview 
with  one  of  these  natives.'  Of  course  he  had  no 
business  whatever  with  us.  He  is  making;  his 
little  betrothed  shake  hands,  and  behave  other- 
wise quite  like  a  European  lady,  and  instead  of 
shutting  her  up,  she  always  goes  about  with  him. 
We  march  ten  miles  a  -  day,  starting  out  at  a 
quick  march  with  his  troops  and  band,  which  is 
a  very  large  one  and  plays  English  tunes.  The 
Jung  always  takes  his  gun  with  him,  and  shoots 
every  cockyolly  bird  he  comes  across.  You  may 
imagine,  therefore,  how  much  I  am  enjoying  my- 
self. The  game  consists  of  quails,  hares,  and 
partridges.  The  Jung  sends  us  our  dinner, 
which  consists  of  rice  boiled  with  ghee,  and 
eighteen  or  twenty  other  condiments,  served  in 
leaves  and  scented,  so  that  one  feels  as  if  one 
were  eating  greasy  smells.  We  have  conse- 
quently come  to  the  determination  of  accepting 


42  BEGINNING    LIFE. 

Jung's  dinner,  but  of  providing  ourselves  with 
something  edible  as  well  as  odoriferous.  The 
chutney  smells  exactly  like  the  young  colonel ; 
it  is  a  very  nice  smell,  but  one  does  not  like  it 
to  get  further  than  one's  nose.  I  have  found 
out  the  philosophy  of  travelling.  In  travelling 
you  are  much  more  likely  to  have  excitement  of 
one  sort  or  another  than  leadinof  a  humdrum 
life  ;  but  as  happiness  consists  in  anticipation, 
all  you  have  to  do  is  continually  to  anticipate 
excitement  and  you  will  always  be  happy,  where- 
as in  the  other  case  excitement  is  so  very  un- 
likely that  you  can't  work  yourself  up  to  the 
anticipation  of  it.  Then  there  is  intense  en- 
joyment in  eating  even  ghee  and  smells  when 
you  have  gone  twenty-four  hours  without  eating 
anything,  also  in  sleeping  when  you  have  been 
two  nights  awake  —  all  pleasures  to  which  you 
are  a  stranger." 

After  this  there  comes  a  sudden  digression, 
caused  by  the  happy  accident  of  falling  into 
a  great  picnic  party  which  was  spending  a  few 
days  in  tents  at  no  great  distance  from  the 
"  Jung's  "  encampment — of  all  the  amusements 
of  which  young  Laurence  and  his  companion 
were  made  free,  and  which  suggests  the  start- 
ling  question   in   his    next    letter,    "  How   would 


YOUXG   LADIES.  43 

you  like  a  Roman  Catliollc  daughter-in-law?" 
I  have  already  said  that  young  ladies  were 
much  in  the  thoughts  of  this  traveller  of 
twenty-one,  and  he  had  already  intimated  with 
much  delight  that  he  alone  could  "  polk "  of 
the  assembled  party,  and  therefore  had  it  all 
his  own  way.  He  enlarges  for  a  page  of  this 
letter  upon  the  particular  lady  in  question, 
who  was  not  only  very  pretty  but  very  sensible, 
clever,  and  lady-like,  and  would  not  be  flirted 
with  at  any  price,  which,  adds  this  experienced 
youth,  "  made  it  so  dangerous.  I  began  by  try- 
ins:  for  fun  to  cut  out  two  fellows  who  were 
rivals,  and  I  succeeded  so  triumphantly  that  it 
became  nearly  earnest,  to  the  disgust  of  one,  who 
cut  me  dead  at  last ;  but  we  made  it  up  when  we 
killed  the  tiger  yesterday.  If  you  knew  how 
much  I  am  envied  you  would  excuse  my  conceit, 
which  is  becoming  unbearable."  It  is  perhaps 
the  reaction  from  this  delightful  sensation  of 
triumph  that  makes  him  a  little  discontented 
M'ith  his  real  host,  the  Jung,  when  he  rejoins  the 
camp. 

"  The  Juno-  has  not  behaved  well  to  us  in 
the  shooting  line,  and  we  are  rather  cool  with 
him  on  that  account.  He  makes  arrangements 
for    us   to  go   out   with   him,    but    being    a   very 


44  BEGINNING    LIFE. 

jealous  sportsman,  has  contrived  twice  to  give 
us  the  shp  with  his  elephants,"  which  leads  the 
young  men  to  the  resolution  of  setting  off  on 
horseback  by  themselves  to  Khatmandhu  and 
abandoning  the  party.  "  Travelling  in  India," 
Laurence  adds,  "  is  totally  different  from  travel- 
ling in  any  other  country.  The  comfort  and 
pleasure  of  being  made  at  home  in  a  nice  house 
with  nice  people,  instead  of  going  to  an  inn,  is 
not  to  be  told.  By  so  doing  one  is  per- 
petually thrown  with  new  people,  who  have  to 
be  learnt — as  is  also  the  knack  of  making  your- 
self agreeable  in  the  shortest  possible  time. 
There  are  certain  hobbies  and  subjects  which 
every  one  has  in  India,  and  in  which  I  am  be- 
coming perfect,  having  of  course  no  particular 
opinion  on  them  myself,  '  but  what  master  likes.' 
Then  the  change  of  climate  and  scene  puts  one 
in  good  health  and  spirits,  and  the  numerous 
little  trials  of  temper  that'  one  undergoes  tend 
to  make  one  a  philosopher.  I  rarely  get  further 
than  looking  a  little  sulky  now  and  then  at  a 
man  whose  neck  I  should  like  to  wring  slowly. 
The  Nepaulese  are  excessively  stupid,  and  hor- 
ribly good-humoured,  so  I  can't  do  anything  else 
with  them  ;  but  the  Hindostanees  are  sulky  and 
alive  to  ridicule,  so  I  get  on  very  well  with  bully- 
ing them  jocosely.    .    .    .    The  next  best  thing  to 


ELEPHANT-HUNTING.  45 

having  repose  of  mind  is  looking  as  if  you  had  it, 
and  I  often  wish  I  had  a  pleasant  expression  of 
countenance  in  my  pocket,  which  I  could  fasten 
on  my  face  when  ^Vanted." 

This  letter — which  is  tinged  with  a  certain  shade 
of  discontent,  with  an  "  I  am  not  so  full  of  the 
young  lady  "  at  the  end — after  a  few  days'  in- 
terval is  however  reopened  in  great  excitement 
to  narrate  "  the  most  magnificent  day's  sport  I 
ever  had  in  my  life." 

"  We  started  early  this  morning  elephant - 
catching,  but  did  not  come  up  with  the  herd  till 
two  o'clock.  I  insisted  upon  going,  much  against 
the  Minister's  [Jung's]  wish,  who  said  it  was  im- 
possible for  me  to  do  it  :  however,  saying  he  was 
no  longer  responsible,  he  gave  me  an  elephant  on 
which  was  nothing  but  a  sack  of  straw  lashed 
firmly  on,  with  a  loop  of  rope  to  hold  by.  Taking 
ofi"  cap  and  shoes,  I  was  told  to  stick  to  this 
through  thick  and  thin,  throwing  myself  ofi"  the 
elephant  when  passing  under  branches,  and  hold- 
ing on  with  my  hands  to  swing  myself  on  him 
again.  Two  regiments  with  a  lot  of  elephants 
had  been  sent  to  beat  the  jungle  ;  and  when  the 
herd  appeared,  about  a  hundred  more,  on  one  of 
which   I   was,   started    in  full   pursuit.      Besides 


46  BEGINNING    LIFE. 

holding   on,  I  had   to  thrash  the  elephant  with 
a  spiked  piece  of  wood  :  you  may  imagine  it  was 
no  joke,  seeing  a  bough  before  you  which  grazed 
your    hands    and    arms    passiiig,    not    six    inches 
above"  the    elephant's    back,    the    mahout    doing 
likewise.       It    was    certainly    the    most    violent 
exertion  I  ever  underwent,  and  once  the  elephant 
came  down  a  tremendous  trip  on  his  nose,  which 
nearly  dislocated  every  bone  in  my  body.      On  we 
rushed,  regardless   of  everything.     A  pack  of  a 
hundred  elephants  in  full  cry  is  a  curious  sight, 
with    two   nearly   naked   men   on   each,   swaying 
about  like  bolsters,  now  on  one  side,  now  on  the 
other,  or  slipping  down  to  the  root  of  the  tail  and 
holding  on  by  the  crupper.     We  got  two  (wild) 
elephants  separated,    and    followed    them    close, 
when  suddenly   I  was  enveloped  in  smoke,  and 
very  much  astonished  by  a  dozen  or  more  guns 
let  off  in  my  face.     The  elephants  had  doubled 
back,  and  this  was  a  salvo  from  a  lot  of  soldiers 
hidden  in  the  grass,  who  immediately  afterwards 
threw  away  their  guns  and  made  for  the  trees. 
But   the    elephants  were    so   bewildered  by   the 
smoke  and  hot  pursuit,  that  they  kept  on  until 
they  thought  it  time  to  turn  and  charge,  which 
they  did,  but  took  nothing  by  their  motion,  our 
elephants  standing  like  rocks,   while  the  others 
were  belabourino-  their  sides  and  backs  with  their 


A    UNIQUE    EXPERIENCE.  47 

trunks.  Finding-  there  was  no  help  for  it,  they 
tried  to  bolt ;  but  that  was  not  so  easy,  each  of 
them,  in  the  meantime,  having  had  two  nooses 
thrown  i-ound  their  necks,  which  four  elephants 
were  all  pulling  different  ways.  They  were  two 
mothers  with  two  little  ones,  and  the  poor  little 
things  got  dreadfully  jostled,  and  roared  vehe- 
mently upon  being  separated  from  their  mothers. 
I  am  the  only  Eurojoean  that  has  ever  attempted 
to  follow,  and  Sir  Henry  Lawrence  is  the  only  one 
that  has  even  seen  anything  of  one  from  a  dis- 
tance, and  the  Jung  says  that  was  nothing  to 
this.  He  would  call  me  a  brick  if  he  had  a  Ne- 
paulese'word  for  it.  You  need  not  be  afraid  of 
my  going  out  again ;  there  is  not  the  slightest 
chance  of  it,  as  we  leave  the  elejDhant  country  the 
first  thing  in  the  morning." 

After  this  high  point  of  excitement  the  narra- 
tive drops  to  lower  levels.  At  Khatmandhu, 
when  the  travellers  reached  it  at  last,  things  were 
not  so  well  with  the  Jung  as  had  been  hoped,  and 
Laurence  and  his  companion,  though  with  much 
reluctance,  released  him  from  a  promise  he  had 
made  to  allow  them  to  explore  the  country — a 
privilege  never  yet  granted  to  any  European,  and 
likely  to  do  the  Minister  harm  if  he  23ermitted  it. 
"  He  finds  his  position  here  anything  but  satisfac- 


48  BEGINNING   LIFE. 

toiy ;  the  Durbar  look  suspiciously  upon  him,  as 
being  a  friend  of  England,  an  idea  which  many 
little  circumstances  have  tended  to  confirm ;  so 
the  Jung's  head  is  not  likely  to  remain  long  on 
his  shoulders,  notwithstanding  the  cool  way  he 
orders  everybody  about,  from  the  king  down- 
wards. This  we  remarked  at  Durbar  yesterday, 
when  he  had  his  most  devoted  followers  close  be- 
hind his  chair  with  double-barrelled  rifles  (loaded), 
while  the  men  he  was  afraid  of  were  just  in  front 
of  him."  The  excitement  of  the  journey  was 
thus  cut  short,  as  well  as  the  young  travellers' 
hopes  of  exploring  an  altogether  new  country, 
and  having  really  something  worth  writing  about. 
Nothing  remained  for  it,  accordingly,  but  to  push 
on  along  the  beaten  ways,  and  join  Lord  Gros- 
venor's  party,  which  had  been  circling  Laurence's 
line  of  voyage  for  some  time  without  ever  coming 
to  an  encounter.  It  is  needless  to  follow  him  in 
his  detailed  journeys,  or  even  in  the  mixture  of 
diffidence  and  self-confidence  with  which  he  drives 
up  "  with  a  carriage  full  of  luggage  "  to  the  house 
of  a  stranger  to  whom  he  has  no  tie  except  a 
letter  of  introduction  in  his  pocket,  thinking  it 
"  an  unparalleled  piece  of  impudence,"  yet  con- 
soled bv  the  thouofht  that  "it  is  the  custom  in 
India " :  no  need  to  say  that  he  is  always  re- 
ceived with  open  arms. 


SELF-EXAMINATION.  49 

There  are,  however,  some  bits  of  more  serious 
thought  in  these  letters,  and  occasionally  scraps 
of  self- analysis,  called  forth  evidently  by  the 
pious  mother's  questions  anent  her  boy's  spiritual 
state.  It  is  difficult,  he  says,  to  practise  habits 
of  self-examination  riding  upon  an  elephant, 
with  a  companion  who  is  always  talking  or 
singing  within  a  few  feet ;  but  it  is  otherwise 
in  a  palkee,  which  "  is  certainly  a  dull  means 
of  conveyance,"  but  "  forces  one  into  one's  self 
more  than  an3^thing."  The  result  of  Laurence's 
self-ponderings  is,  that  he  discerns  his  great 
weakness  to  be  "  flexibility  of  conscience,  joined 
to  a  power  of  adapting  myself  to  the  society  into 
which  I  may  happen  to  be  thrown." 

"  It  originated,  I  think,  in  a  wish  to  be  civil 
to  everybody,  and  a  regard  for  people's  feelings, 
and  has  degenerated  into  a  selfish  habit  of  being- 
agreeable  to  them,  simply  to  suit  my  own  con- 
venience. I  think  I  can  be  firm  enough  when  I 
have  an  object  to  gain,  and  have  not  even  the 
excuse  of  being  so  easily  led  as  I  used  to  think. 
I  am  only  led  when  it  is  to  pay,  which  is  a  most 
sordid  motive — in  feet,  the  more  I  see  of  my 
own  character,  the  more  despicable  it  appears,  a 
being  so  deeply  hypocritical  that  1  can  hardly 
trust  myself;  hence  arose  a  disinclination  ever  to 

VOL.    I.  '  D 


50  BEGINNING    LIFE. 

speak  about  myself.  How  blind  one  is  to  one's 
own  interest  not  to  see  that,  putting  it  on  one's 
own  ground,  it  would  pay  much  better  to  l)e 
an  upright  God-fearing  man  than  anything  else  ! 
Fortunately  religion  is  a  thing  that  one  cannot 
acquire  from  such  a  motive,  or  1  am  sure  I  should 
have  done  so  before  this." 

No  doubt  that  their  son  should  make  such  a 
confession,  or  any  confession  breathing  of  self-dis- 
satisfaction, would  be  agreeable  to  the  parents — 
to  the  Judge,  who  had  spoken  naughty  words 
and  been  so  sorry  for  them,  and  to  the  anxious 
religious  mother,  always  longing  after  his  spiritual 
advantage.  But  perhaps  Laurence  felt  that  he 
had  been  a  little  hard  upon  himself.  He  ends  by 
hoping  "  there  is  no  humbug  in  it.  It  is  honest 
as  far  as  I  know,  but  dont  helieve  in  it  iinj^Iicitly," 
he  says  ;  w^hile  in  another  letter  he  shows  himself 
disposed  to  defend  the  "flexibility"  of  which  he 
had  just  accused  his  own  character  and  conscience. 
He  is  aware  of  "  having  Ferentcz's  [an  uncle] 
knack  of  making  myself  agreeable,"  but  thinks  it 
is  to  a  great  extent  without  any  harm  in  it. 

"  If  an  old  general  likes  to  hear  himself  speak, 
why  should  you  not  look  interested,  however 
l)ored   you   may  feel  ?  why  should  you  not  take 


ALL    THINGS    TO    ALL    MEN.  51 

an  interest  in  iDoor  Mrs  So-and-so,  who  has  gone 
wrong,  or  been  beaten  by  her  husband,  if  Mrs 
General  does  ?  I  got  a  tiffin  out  of  an  old 
couple  at  Benares  simply  in  that  way,  and  C. 
says,  '  Why,  I  never  saw  such  a  fellow  as  you, 
Oliphant ;  you  are  a  favourite  everywhere  im- 
mediately.' I  do  not  give  myself  any  credit  for 
it,  mind  ;  on  the  contrary,  nothing  is  easier,  and 
I  inherit  it  from  your  side  of  the  house  evidently. 
But  the  tendency  I  see  to  be  bad  in  fact." 

One  may  perhaps  be  inclined  to  wish  that  this 
tendency,  to  be  agreeable  and  sympathetic,  and 
to  look  interested  even  when  you  are  bored, 
were  a  little  more  general ;  but  it  is  curious  to 
find  that  a  man,  specially  distinguished  for  tak- 
ing his  own  independent  way  in  life,  and  that  a 
most  individual,  not  to  say  eccentric,  one,  should 
have  been  alarmed  by  his  own  early  inclination 
to  be  all  things  to  all  men — a  delightful  faculty, 
however,  which  he  retained,  in  the  midst  of  a 
life  more  unfettered  by  other  peoj^le's  opinions  or 
by  any  conventional  rule  than  almost  any  other 
of  his  generation,  to  the  very  end. 

There  is  nothing  more  charming  in  these 
youthful  letters  than  the  cordial  and  genuine 
response  of  this  spoiled  child  to  the  affection 
lavished  upon  him.     His  mother's  advices  are  not 


52  BEGINNING    LIFE. 

only  received  well,  but  asked  for  with  a  sincerity 
that  cannot  be  doul^ted — a  very  unusual  trait  in 
a  young  man  of  twenty-one ;  and  the  chance 
references  to  his  father,  still  papa  to  the  home- 
loving  young  adventurer,  are  always  delightful. 
Had  papa  but  been  there,  he  and  Lowry  would 
have  waited  for  no  escort,  feared  no  harm,  but 
set  off  lightly  on  foot  through  the  prohibited 
Nepaul.  There  is  no  such  travelling  companion, 
the  young  man  says,  as  papa.  The  men  of  his 
own  aofe  are  as  nice  fellows  as  can  be,  whom  he 
delights  to  emulate  in  every  bodily  exercise,  to  win 
a  genial  triumph  over  either  in  the  elephant-hunt 
or  the  new  polka,  making  a  friendship  for  life 
even  out  of  a  ball-room  rivalry  ;  but,  after  all, 
there  is  nobody  like  his  father  for  real  com- 
panionship. Nor  is  there  anybody  so  acute  as 
the  Judge  in  appreciation  of  character, — a  power 
of  which  so  many  people  are  destitute,  but  which 
Lowry  modestly  concludes  he  has  himself  in- 
herited, as  he  has  inherited  the  knack  of  pleasing 
people  from  his  mother's  side  of  the  house.  His 
eagerness  to  get  home,  to  have  post-horses  or- 
dered for  him  on  the  Kandy  road,  to  lose  not 
a  moment  in  reaching  his  mother's  side,  shows 
how  little  the  adoration  of  that  home  had  spoiled 
him.  Thus  ended  the  young  man's  first  essay 
of  independent  life, — a  sufficiently  wild  flight  to 


END    OF    THE    HOLIDAY.  53 

be  the  first,  and  a  most  characteristic  one.  He 
had  been  filling  the  position  of  private  secretary 
to  his  father  since  the  return  of  the  family  from 
Europe  three  years  before,  at,  he  somewhere  says, 
the  exceedingly  liberal  salary  of  £400  a-year. 
And  it  was  on  his  savings  that  he  accomplished 
the  rapid  and  brilliant  rush  through  India  which 
was  the  beginning  both  of  his  life  of  adventure 
and  of  his  literary  career. 


54 


CHAPTEE    III. 

THE    BAR THE    EXPEDITION    TO    RUSSIA. 

It  was  perhaps  scarcely  possible  that  after  such  a 
taste  of  freedora,  and  of  the  social  life  for  which 
he  was  so  admirably  constituted,  the  young  man 
should  settle  down  again  at  Ceylon  to  his  irreg- 
ular bar  practice  and  existence  of  official  routine. 
He  had  already  felt  the  difficulty  of  being  called 
upon  to  plead  "  before  papa,"  which  lessened  his 
sphere,  and  he  was  also  aware  that  his  knowledge 
of  law  was  imperfect  for  one  who  intended  to 
adopt  that  profession  (which,  besides,  he  hated). 
Accordingly  but  a  few  months  elapsed  before  his 
mind  was  ffiially  made  up  to  quit  Ceylon,  and  try 
his  fortune  in  the  greater  world.  The  time  was 
approaching  at  which  Sir  Anthony  would  be  able 
to  resign  his  appointment,  and  retire  from  public 
work,  and  it  was  decided  that  Lady  Oliphant 
should  accompany  her  son  home,  en  attendant  the 
ha23py  period  fixed  for  the  Judge's  retirement ;  for 


VOYAGE    TO    ENGLAND.  0  0 

it  was  evidently  feit  to  be  inexpedient  that  Lau- 
rence should  lose  any  more  time  in  qualifying  him- 
self for  the  more  serious  work  of  life.  Perhaps 
some  parental,  or  rather  maternal,  anxiety  about 
the  health  of  the  beloved  boy  had  been  alleged 
to  friends  as  a  reason  for  this  step,  for  I  find  a 
letter  to  Sir  Anthony  from  a  friend  in  Gibraltar 
who  goes  out  to  the  steamer  to  greet  the  travel- 
lers in  passing,  and  who  announces  that  "  Lowry 
looked  anything  but  delicate.  I  should  judge 
him  a  great,  stout,  eleven-stone  fellow,  able  to 
give  me  a  thoroughly  good  thrashing  on  an  emer- 
gency." Stout,  in  the  sense  which  the  word 
generally  bears,  he  never  w^as,  but  well  knit, 
active,  and  muscular,  with  that  promptitude  of 
eye  and  observation  which  are  the  most  admirable 
of  additions  to  strength  and  courage.  His  own 
letters  to  his  father  left  behind  in  Ceylon  are 
admirable,  full  of  playfulness  and  graphic  descrip- 
tion, a  little  more  free  and  less  serious  than  those 
to  his  mother,  dashed  off  with  a  flying  pen,  and 
full  at  first  of  all  the  humours  of  the  little  sea- 
society  on  board  ship,  which  always  lend  them- 
selves to  the  remarks  of  the  social  critic.  The 
mother  and  son  arrived  in  England  in  the 
end  •  of  October  1851,  finding  the  gloomy  sea 
in  the  Channel  "  easily  recognisable  from  its 
John  Bull  appearance,"   and  already   "  luxuriat- 


56  THE    BAR. 

ing    in   English   fog   and   damp."     Although    he 
knew   very   little    of  his   own   country,    London 
was  full  of  friends,  and  before  he  had  been  more 
than  a  month  or  two  in  England,  he  had  resumed 
a  hundred  old  friendships  and  made  as  many  new 
ones,  among  his  father's  old  companions  and  the 
men  of  his  own  generation.     He  decided  to  enter 
at  Lincoln's   Inn,  where  various  people    assured 
him  he  might  be  called  to  the  Bar  very  speedily  in 
consideration  of  his  j^revious  studies  and  practical 
experience  in  Ceylon.     In  those  days  it  was  not 
a  matter  of  strict  examination  as  it  is  now,  and 
to  have  read  for  a  year  with  a  barrister  was  suffi- 
cient qualification.      Certainly  Laurence,  with  his 
social  tastes  and  the  habit  of  succeeding  without 
severe  preliminary   labour,   was  the   last  man  in 
the  world  for  the  ordeal  of  examinations,  to  which 
probably  he  would  not  have  submitted,  and  cer- 
tainly would  not  have  "  crammed"  for.     There  is 
not  much  evidence  indeed  from  first  to  last  that 
he  was  greatly  in  earnest  about  this  study.     "  I 
think,"  he  says,   "  if  I  get  up  the  two  or  three 
books  necessary  for  acquiring  a  proj^er  knowledge 
of   mercantile  law,    including   bills   of  exchange, 
together  with  the  law  of  evidence,  pleading  and 
real  property  may  take  care  of  themselves."     The 
beginning  of  that  other   most   curious  but   most 
wonderful  branch  of  legal  study,  which  consists 


LETTERS    TO    HIS    FATHEK.  57 

of  eating  dinners,  is  however  more  amusing.  He 
describes  it  to  his  father  in  an  early  letter,  so  that 
it  is  evident  he  had  lost  no  time  in  entering  upon 
this  severe  portion  of  his  education. 

"London,  Nov.  24,  185L 

"  I  have  eaten  some  stringy  boiled  beef  at 
Lincoln's  Inn  Hall  in  company  with  three 
hundred  others,  not  one  soul  of  whom  I  had 
ever  seen  before ;  but  I  unhesitatingly  talked 
to  my  next  neighbour,  and  soon,  by  dropping 
in  an  unconcerned  manner  remarks  upon  a  tiger 
I  knocked  over  here,  and  a  man  I  defended 
for  murder  there,  talking  learnedly  about  Ceylon 
affairs,  &c.,  &c.,  incited  the  curiosity  of  those 
whose  reserve  would  not  otherwise  have  allowed 
them  to  notice  me,  too  much  to  let  them  remain 
silent.  Still  I  felt  rather  verdant  on  first  enter- 
ing, and  was  only  saved  from  sitting  down  at  the 
table  appropriated  to  barristers  by  hearing  one 
man  remark  he  was  not  going  to  sit  there,  as  So- 
and-so  was  his  senior ;  so  I  concluded  that  if  he 
was  Ms  senior  he  was  most  certainly  mine,  and 
choosing  the  youngest-looking  man  I  could  find, 
I  seated  myself  next  him." 

The  mother  and  son  began  their  life  in  England 
in  a  cottage  at  East  Sheen,  lent  to  them  by  one 


58  THE    BAR. 

of  their  many  friends,  where  they  immediately 
found  themselves  much  at  home  among  a  number 
of  agreeable  neighbours,  including  the  family  of 
Sir  Henry  Taylor,  the  author  of  '  Philip  van 
Artevelde,'  whom  Laurence  describes  as  the  "  idol 
of  the  whole  neighbourhood,  made  love  to  by  the 
entire  female  portion  of  the  community."  But  a 
young  man  with  dinners  to  eat  in  Lincoln's  Inn, 
and  many  other  engagements  on  hand,  soon  dis- 
covered that  to  be  so  far  out  of  town  was  incon- 
venient, and  indeed  impossible.  It  is  with  great 
gravity  and  conviction  that  he  states  his  prefer- 
ence for  England,  meaning  London,  a  little  later. 

"  The  longer  I  stay  in  England,  the  more  I  see 
how  necessary  a  residence  here  is  for  a  young 
man,  who  is  utterly  unconscious  of  his  own  ignor- 
ance in  a  colony,  and  comforts  himself  by  knowing 
as  much  as  his  neighbours,  which  is  no  very 
difficult  matter.  It  will  require  no  common  in- 
ducement to  make  me  ever  return  to  Ceylon. 
Life  is  not  long  enough  to  waste  the  best  part 
of  it  by  living  away  from  all  the  advantages 
Avhich  civilisation  affords,  to  break  up  all  the  ties 
one  may  have  formed  and  which  can  never  be 
reunited,  to  be  destitute  as  well  of  the  means 
of  imj)rovement  as  of  common  information  upon 
everyday  topics." 


SOCIAL    LIFE.  59 

The  record,  however,  does  not  long  continue 
In  this  high  tone,  and  though  Laurence  always 
retained  a  high  opinion  of  the  uses  of  education 
obtained  in  the  way  of  social  intercourse,  he  falls 
lightly  into  his  natural  style  as  his  story  flows 
from  one  dinner-party  and  festive  gathering  to 
another.  The  progress  of  the  young  man,  as  yet 
wise  enough  to  listen  more  than  talk,  with  his 
lively  eyes  wide  open,  and  his  mind  weighing 
every  novelty  and  taking  in  every  information, 
is  delightful  to  follow.  On  one  occasion  he  says  : 
"  The  conversation,  from  the  beginning  of  the 
dinner  to  the  end  (there  being  sixteen  or  eighteen 
people),  was  exclusively  confined  to  speculations 
upon  the  future  Ministers  and  Lord  Derby's 
policy ;  indeed  I  have  heard  so  much  discussion 
upon  politics  in  general,  and  the  capacities  of 
various  men  in  particular,  that  I'll  trouble  you 
rather !  and  the  best  thing  Lord  Derby  can  do 
is  to  recommend  the  Queen  to  send  for  me  if  she 
wants  advice." 

In  s|)ring,  as  in  duty  bound,  Laurence  paid 
his  respects  to  her  Majesty,  whom  he  found  him- 
self so  well  qualified  to  advise.  "  I  have  had 
the  honour,"  he  says,  "  of  pressing  my  lips  upon 
the  fingers  of  royalty.  I  went  through  the 
ordeal  with  considerable  fortitude,  following  Sir 
George  Pollock.     I  found  nearly  everybody  was 


60  THE    BAK. 

in  uniform ;  the  few  who  were  in  civil  costume 
looked  like  servants  of  the  royal  household.  The 
Queen  looked  me  in  the  face  much  harder  than 
I  expected,  and  I  returned  the  gaze  with  such 
a  will  that  I  forgot  to  kneel,  ultimately  nearly 
going  down  on  both  knees,  after  which,  finding 
the  backing-out  process  rather  irksome,  I  fairly 
turned  tail  and  bolted." 

It  is  unnecessary  to  enter  into  the  politics 
which  he  touches  so  lightly  ;  nor  had  he  as  yet 
any  personal  connection  with  them  to  justify 
a  plunge  into  that  whirlpool  of  which  the  older 
reader  will  remember  the  agitations.  The  period 
is  already  too  old  for  contemporary  interest,  too 
recent  for  history.  It  was  the  end  of  a  long- 
period  of  peace  ;  so  long,  that  notwithstanding 
the  convulsions  of  1848  upon  the  Continent, 
many  optimists  were  still  capable  of  holding  the 
opinion  that  the  reign  of  war  was  over,  and 
that  under  no  circumstances  could  tranquil  Eng- 
land bind  on  her  disused  armour  or  draw  her 
rusty  sword  again.  The  following  note  upon 
the  closing  of  the  Great  Exhibition  of  1851 — the 
first  step  in  the  new  emulation  of  arts  and  crafts 
and  national  intercourse,  which  was  to  supplant 
and  make  warfare  impossible,  as  was  fondly  sup- 
posed— carries  us  back  pleasantly  to  one  of  the 
happier    fancies    of  the   time.      The   great  fairy 


THE    EXHIBITION    BUILDING.  61 

palace,  as  it  was  called,  in  Hyde  Park,  the 
temple  of  glass  and  iron,  which  took  the  public 
imagination  by  storm,  was  still  standing,  though 
stripped  of  its  riches,  and  there  was  a  great 
movement  in  favour  of  retaining  it  where  it  had 
been  planted.  It  is  to  be  supposed  that  public 
taste  has  improved  since  that  time,  for  the 
idea  of  such  a  construction  permanently  estab- 
lished in  the  midst  of  the  trees  of  Hyde  Park 
is  calculated  to  produce  a  shuddering  horror  in 
most  minds  nowadays;  but  that  this  was  by 
no  means  the  sentiment  of  the  time  is  very 
clear.  Laurence,  indeed,  \A^as  no  authorit}^  then 
or  ever  from  an  art  point  of  view ;  but  he 
expressed  a  feeling  Avhich  was  very  strong 
in  the  London  of  his  dav  when  he  pronounced 
energetically  for  its  preservation.  Its  aspect,  he 
thought,  even  when  despoiled  of  all  its  previous 
attractions,  ought  to  be  well  noted  before  any 
proposal  was  entertained  for  its  removal.  "  The 
miscellaneous  crowd — ragged  artisans  out  of  work, 
with  Hyde  Park  dandies,  Belgrave  Square  chil- 
dren playing  with  those  from  St  Giles',  and  an 
orange  -  woman  suckling  her  child  next  to  a 
gorgeous  matron  who  looked  like  a  duchess  — 
would  be  more  influential  than  any  number  of 
petitions.  It  is  a  mixture  of  romping,  sedateness, 
and  quiet  enjoyment." 


62  THE    BAR. 

The  mixture  of  the  grave  and  gay  in  these 
delicrhtfiil  letters  cannot  be  better  shown  than 
by  the  extracts  that  follow,  which  give  at  the 
same  time  an  admirable  picture  of  all  the  min- 
gled experiences  and  aspirations  of  the  youth, 
half- boy,  half- man,  at  the  outset  of  his  life. 
The  first  is  all  gaiety,  the  repetition  evidently 
of  a  familiar  subject  of  banter  between  the  genial 
father  and  son. 

Laurence  complains,  April  23,  1852  : — 

' '  I  can't  find  a  single  lassie  that  looks  the  least 
as  if  she  would  do  for  a  wife,  and  the  article  seems 
so  rare  that  when  it  presents  itself  I  shall  feel 
bound  to  snap  it  up  at  once  for  fear  of  losing 
it  for  ever  ;  so  beware  of  hearing  unexpectedly 
of  a  daughter-in-law.  I  have  been  industrious 
enough  to  read  law  until  half-past  ten  at  Charles's 
[Pollock's  —  now  Baron  Pollock]  chambers  one 
night,  but  I  should  apply  myself  with  much  more 
of  a  will  if  I  was  sure  of  gfettinof  business  after 
being  called.  If  I  was  to  go  to  the  Scotch  bar, 
and  you  were  to  be  made  sheriff  of  some  county, 
we  might  shake  on  very  comfortably  with  a  farm 
to  amuse  you  and  a  railway  near." 

A  little  later  there  follows  a  pleasant  and 
amusing    account    of    the    manner    in    which    he 


LETTERS    TO    HIS    FATHER.  63 

spends  a  day,  characteristically  brought  in  by 
way  of  showing  the  worthlessness  of  the  excuse 
of  business  which  he  has  just  given  as  his  reason 
for  not  having  written  to  his  father.  "  Tom,"  it 
may  be  explained,  was  an  old  and  much  beloved 
friend,  Dr  Clark,  once  surgeon  in  the  7 2d  High- 
landers, and  throughout  his  life  devoted  to  them, 
^\ho  shared  their  rooms  with  Lady  Oliphant  and 
her  son. 

"My  day  now  is  somewhat  as  follows:  I  am 
up  at  half-past  seven  to  imbue  my  mother  with 
Foster's  sound  sense,  which  I  do  until  half-past 
eiffht.  At  nine  we  breakfast — viz.,  Tom  and  I 
— my  mother  maintaining,  in  spite  of  a  severe 
system  of  bullying  kept  up  by  Tom,  her  ground, 
or  rather  her  room,  where  she  breakfasts.  Tom 
and  I  talk  politics  all  breakfast-time,  our  different 
views  affording  ample  matter  for  discussion,  the 
idea  of  a  Cobden  and  Bright  Ministry  always 
driving  him  frantic.  I  am  then  in  a  proper  trim 
for  the  Debates,  which  I  read  while  digesting, 
and  then  start  for  chambers,  picking  up  Paul 
on  the  way,  and  talking  about  boat  -  building 
and  fast  men  all  the  way  to  chambers,  when  I 
begin  to  read — now  on  bills  of  exchange,  vary- 
ing it  with  abstracting  pleadings,  for  which, 
being  in  the  Marshalls'  chambers,  I  am  particu- 


64  THE    BAR. 

larly  handy.  At  half-past  one  I  go  into  Groom's 
and  have  '  coffee,  brown  bread  and  butter/  in  a 
loud  nasal  twang.  Then  say,  '  "Punch"  after  you, 
sir,'  to  any  man  who  has  got  that  or  any  other 
paper  I  may  want,  pay  fivepence,  and  go  back 
to  chambers.  Walk  home  with  Charles  at 
half-past  four  discussing  law,  theology,  or  poli- 
tics. Then  pay  a  visit  or  two,  now  that  the 
evenings  are  long,  and  then  most  probably  home 
to  dress  and  dine  out,  and  go  to  a  party  after- 
wards, or  Royal  Institution  lectures,  or  debating 
society,  or  o]3era  '  according,'  Now,  I  might  write 
to  you  instead  of  reading  Foster  or  the  Debates, 
or  paying  visits  ;  so,  as  I  said,  want  of  time  is  no 
excuse." 

The  Foster  above  referred  to  is  John  Foster  the 
essavist,  a  Nonconformist  writer  of  considerable 
ability,  whose  high  reputation  has  suffered  some 
diminution  in  the  course  of  time. 

The  political  sentiments  of  a  young  man  brought 
up  as  Laurence  Oliphant  had  been  were  naturally 
somewhat  vague  when,  fresh  from  his  little  colonial 
world,  he  suddenly  plunged  into  London ;  and  his 
first  exposition  of  his  views,  as  made  to  his  father, 
are  more  sentimental  than  substantial. 

"I  have  become  a  friend  of  the  people,  think 


WORK    IN    THE    SLUMS.  65 

that  if  they  are  only  trusted  they  will  show 
themselves  worthy  of  the  confidence  reposed,  that 
nobody  has  a  right  to  iDully  them  or  pull  the 
Crystal  Palace  down  if  they  wish  it  to  stay  up, 
and  that  education  and  kindness,  so  far  from 
making  Chartists,  would  make  loyal  subjects." 

This  sympathetic  feeling  developed  in  his  youth- 
ful breast  in  attempts  to  help  and  serve  those 
lowest  classes  in  London,  who  cal^  forth  so  many 
enthusiasms  and  generous  efforts,  with  so  little 
apparent  result.  His  benevolent  work  began 
by  an  expedition  made  into  the  slums  of  West- 
minster in  company  with  Lady  Troubridge  and 
a  missionary. 

"  Not  altogether  pleasant,"  he  says,  "  address- 
ing a  group  of  thieves  in  Old  Pye  Street.  Lady 
T.  seemed  to  think  it  quite  natural,  so  I  could 
not  well  help  myself,  and  insinuated  to  the  least 
brutal-looking  of  them  that  a  meeting  was  going 
to  be  held  in  the  next  street  which  they  might 
find  interesting,  upon  which  he  laughed  and 
asked  '  Jim '  if  he  heard  that ;  upon  which  Jim 
said  that  he  did,  and  that  he  had  other  meetings 
to  attend  rather  more  to  his  taste  than  that, 
he'd  be  sworn  to,  '  not  reflect  in'  noways  on  you, 
sir.'     Whereupon,  after  a  little    chaffing  among 

VOL.    I.  E 


66  THE    BAR. 

themselves,  they  decided  it  warn't  the  sort  of 
thing  that  would  suit  them,  'no  offence  to  you, 
ye  know,  sir ' ;  and  one  man  did  me  the  honour 
to  say  that  he'd  no  doubt  I  meant  well.  So  I 
went  unsuccessfully  to  the  meeting,  where  I  found 
congregated  fifty  or  sixty  fellows  who  had  come 
in  from  curiosity,  none  of  whom,  to  all  appear- 
ance, had  ever  been  in  a  church  in  their  lives, 
and  who  either  stared  vacantly  or  chaffed  and 
made  jokes,  while  here  and  there  a  little  spar- 
rinof-match  went  on." 

This  first  attempt,  in  which  the  lively  youth 
found  perhaps  more  amusement  than  was  con- 
sistent wath  the  desperate  character  of  the  en- 
terprise, would  not  seem  to  have  been  very  suc- 
cessful. The  service,  as  he  reports  it,  w^as  con- 
ducted with  difficulty.  A  hymn  was  sung,  rather 
to  the  amazement  of  the  roughs,  and  the  small 
congregation  was  addressed  by  the  missionaries ; 
but  as  this  was  done  not  "  very  judiciously,  they 
soon  got  tired." 

"  Some  boys  began  to  fight,  and  had  to  be 
lugged  out  by  their  legs  and  arms,  creating  a 
great  sensation.  Some  of  the  men  seemed  at- 
tentive, however,  while  others  made  jokes,  and 
the  boys  who  had  been  turned  out  began  throw- 


THE    PKOGEESS    OF    THE    LAW.  G7 

Ing  stones  against  the  windows ;  so  that  by  the 
time  we  got  to  the  next  hymn  there  was  a  con- 
siderable row,  which  increased  as  we  began  it, 
as  everybody  began  to  sing  at  tlie  top  of  their 
voices  a  variety  of  airs,  amid  occasional  bursts 
of  laiiof-hter.  When  service  was  over,  some 
promised  to  come  back,  while  others  went  away 
amused  ;  but  all  through  there  was  no  absolute 
incivility  shown,  which,  considering  the  men,  was 
a  great  deal  to  say." 

He  had  scarcely  thus  got  himself  in  train, 
however,  laying  out  his  work,  his  gaieties,  and 
his  attemjDts  at  missionary  exertion  in  the  way 
specially  favoured  at  the  time,  Avhen  weariness 
stole  upon  him,  and  dissatisfaction.  He  dis- 
covered that  the  constant  dissipation  of  a  London 
season  is  absolutely  incompatible  with  any  suf- 
ficient amount  of  legal  or  any  other  work, 
"  Gallops  in  the  Park,"  he  says,  "  when  too  fre- 
quent, rather  prevent  the  proper  progress  of 
the  law  "  ;  and  his  many  other  engagements  and 
interests  could  scarcely  fail  to  bear  the  same 
tendency.  The  length  of  time  required  for  the 
training  necessary  for  the  English  Bar  also  began 
to  discourage  him,  and  the  hope  of  more  ready 
admittance  and  better  prospects  in  the  North 
seemed  to  afibrd  an  attractive  alternative.     He 


68  THE    BAR. 

thus    announces    his    changed    mtention    in    this 
respect : — 

"  London,  June  7,  1852. 

"  Thinking  it  nonsense  not  looking  for  myself 
into  the  prospects  of  the  Scotch  Bar,  and  as  it 
was  impossible  to  do  so  satisfactorily  without 
going  there,  I  took  a  run  up  in  the  steamer 
with  Aunt  Sophy,  who  happened  to  be  making 
the  move  at  the  time,  and  remained  just  thirty- 
three  hours  with  Anthony  Murray,  which  I 
employed  looking  over  the  courts  and  into 
the  faces  of  the  barristers,  and  thought  that 
they  did  not  express  the  brieflessness  of  Eng- 
lish lawyers — a  suspicion  that  was  confirmed 
upon  my  conferring  with  Robert  Oliphant,  who 
said  the  Scotch  Bar  never  afforded  such  pros- 
pects of  advancement  as  at  this  moment. 
Anthony  Murray  said  the  same,  and  the  result 
was  that  I  determined  to  come  to  the  Scotch  Bar 
as  speedily  as  possible — to  effect  which  a  Civil 
Law  examination  is  required  ;  and  as  attendance 
of  classes  is  not  necessary,  I  am  at  this  moment 
cramming  Justinian  with  a  view  to  passing  on 
the  3d  of  next  month,  as  they  said  that  though 
a  year's  study  was  the  usual  thing,  if  I  chose 
to  stand  the  trial  and  could  pass  it,  they  did 
not  care  for  anything  else.  I  have  exactly  one 
month  to  prepare ;   but  it  is  worth  making  the 


THE    SCOTCH    BAR.  69 

spurt,  as  it  will  be  such  a  saving  of  time. 
Exactly  one  year  hence  I  shall  pass,  I  hope,  in 
Scots  Law,  and  be  a  practising  advocate  in 
Edinburgh  long  before  my  terms  at  this  hope- 
less Bar  will  be  completed.  The  prizes  there 
do  not  seem  so  far  out  of  one's  reach,  and  I 
have  every  intention  of  going  in  for  everything 
— which  I  could  never  screw  up  my  courage  to 
do  here." 

He  was,  however,  at  the  same  time  fully  re- 
solved to  keep  up  his  terms  at  the  English  Bar 
in  spite  of  his  Scotch  practice,  and  retain  the 
valuable  connections  he  had  formed  there. 

In  the  meantime  the  little  book,  chiefly  com- 
posed of  extracts  from  his  diary,  about  Nepaul, 
had  been  put  together  and  prepared  for  the 
press  —  though  nothing  is  said  about  it  in  the 
letters  until  its  appearance  is  recorded.  The  book 
was  ready  in  the  early  spring  of  1852,  and  con- 
fided to  "Uncle  Tom"  for  revision.  This  was  Mr 
Thomas  Oliphant,  the  youngest  brother  of  Sir 
Anthony,  well  known  in  connection  with  music, 
and  the  author  of  some  popular  songs.  There  is 
no  information  as  to  this  gentleman's  literary 
gifts  ;  but  in  those  days  no  one  was  aware,  him- 
self least  of  all,  that  young  Laurence  was  to  be 
one   of  the   most    popular   writers   of   his   time, 


70  THE    BAE. 

and  his  anxious  mother  thought  it  a  great 
matter  that  the  boy's  book  should  be  looked 
over  and  licked  into  shape  by  a  more  experienced 
hand.  "  I  have  handed  over  your  manuscript 
to  Mr  Murray,"  says  the  uncle,  "  after  having 
carefully  gone  through  it  and  made  such  altera- 
tions as  will  in  many  cases  cause  it  to  read 
better.  The  mere  unpremeditated  language  of 
a  diary  won't  do  for  appearing  in  print.  It 
gives  a  flippant  character  to  the  style  of  the 
narrative,  and  is  aj)t  to  weary  the  reader.  With 
such  further  alterations  as  I  have  no  doubt  Mr 
Murray's  reader  will  think  it  necessary  to  make, 
the  book  will  be  very  interesting,  and  likely  to 
do  you  credit."  "  I  send  you  the  above,"  writes 
Lady  Oliphant  to  her  husband  in  great  satis- 
faction, "  hoping  it  will  please  you  to  see  your 
brother's  opinion  of  Lowry's  book."  Whether 
Lowry  himself  was  equally  pleased  with  the 
prospect  of  being  subjected  to  the  alterations  of 
"Mr  Murray's  reader  "  does  not  appear;  but  he 
shows  no  such  vanity  about  his  first  appearance 
in  print  as  is  general  with  young  authors — re- 
garding it,  so  far  as  can  be  seen,  from  a  most 
business  -  like  and  practical  point  of  view.  He 
sent  out  to  his  father,  apparently  for  the  use  of 
Ceylon,  fifty  copies,  and  his  report  of  his  first 
venture  is  made  in  the  most  moderate  terms,  and 


HIS   FIRST   BOOK.  71 

without  any  of  the  usual  excitement   of  young 
authorship. 

"  I  shall  send  my  book  by  the  Queen  of  the 
South,"  he  says.  "  Two  thousand  copies  have 
already  (ten  days)  been  sold  out  of  the  three 
thousand  which  formed  the  first  edition,  and 
I  have  had  long  and  favourable  notices  in 
the  '  Athenaeum,'  '  Economist,'  '  Examiner,'  and 
'  Literary  Gazette,'  in  which  papers  look  (date 
about  last  week  in  May).  It  seems  to  give  very 
general  satisfaction,  and  I  hope  to  have  another 
edition  out  in  a  month  or  two." 

This  is  all  that  the  young  writer  says  about 
his  first  performance.  It  was  published  in  a 
cheap  form,  and  brought  him,  I  believe,  very 
little  profit,  though  some  praise. 

In  the  middle  of  the  summer  of  1852  he  had 
taken  up  his  quarters  in  Edinburgh,  and  was  in 
full  progress  of  study  and  equally  high  spirits, 
"cramminp-"  for  the  examination,  which  was  to 
take  place  on  the  3d  of  the  ensuing  month,  with 
great  hopes  of  success.  His  preliminary  steps  are 
amusing. 

"  I  have  been  introduced  to  all  my  examiners, 
and  have  buttered  them  properly,  and  they  look 
good-natured  enough.  Robert  Oliphant  has  been 
overwhelming  me  with  kindness  —  introducing 
me   right    and   left,   propitiating   my  examiners, 


72  THE    BAR. 

and  puffing  me  splendidly  as  a  colonial  lawyer, 
a  young  author,  and  altogether  an  interesting 
young  personage,  that  it  would  be  folly  to  pluck 
for  the  want  of  a  little  smattering  of  Latin." 

His  future  companions  are  described  with  simi- 
lar light-hearted  satisfaction. 

"  The  more  I  see  of  this  Bar,  the  more  I  prefer 
it  to  England  —  it  is  so  much  more  snug  and 
sociable ;  and  though  there  is  a  considerable 
sprinkling  of  snobs,  yet  there  are  some  gentle- 
men, and  they  shine  out  all  the  more  conspicu- 
ously, and  indeed  get  more  business  on  that 
account.  It  is  evidently  the  correct  thing  to 
be  a  high  Tory  here,  so  remember  I  won't  pledge 
myself  to  any  opinions." 

The  next  event  in  his  life  was  the  success  of  his 
Civil  Law  examination. 

"  The  examiners  were  evidently  in  a  much 
greater  fright  of  puzzling  themselves  than  any- 
thing else,  and  in  the  Civil  Law  they  skimmed 
the  surface  in  very  safe  questions :  decidedly 
the  most  trying  part  was  the  walking  in  before 
seven  great  fellows  sitting  round  a  table  in 
solemn  wigs.  However,  they  shook  hands  with 
me  with  great  cordiality,  welcoming  me  among 
them  and  2:>assing  me  unanimously,  which  was 
nothing  more  than  they  ought  to  have  done,  see- 
ing I  never  made  a  mistake.     The  whole  thing 


EDINBURGH    SOCIETY.  73 

did  not  last  half  an  hour,  and  I  sent  a  message 
down  to  my  mother  by  electric  telegraph,  which 
reached  her  in  half  an  hour  more." 

The  opinion  he  had  formed  of  Edinburgh 
society  in  those  days  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
a  high  one,  but  yet  he  managed  to  console  him- 
self in  many  ways. 

"I  think  Edinburgh  is  such  a  beautiful  town 
that  I  am  fully  compensated  for  its  dulness 
by  its  romance,  and  shall  have  so  many  friends 
near  that  I  can  always  run  over  to  Keir,  Blair 
Drummond,  Abercairney,  or  Ochtertyre — from  all 
which  places  I  have  received  invitations — to  say 
nothing  of  Condie,  and  Freeland,  only  two  hours 
from  Edinburgh.  I  think  it  rather  an  advantage 
that  Edinburgh  offers  no  attraction  in  the  way 
of  society.  Notwithstanding  this,  I  find  myself 
dining  out  every  night,  the  last  place  being  with 
old  Colonel  Phillpott  and  family.  Curiously 
enough,  I  met  at  the  station,  all  in  the  same 
carriage,  Algernon  Egerton,  Campbell  of  Monzie, 
Sir  Alexander  Mackenzie,  and  Hawkins,  an 
Indian  judge,  all  of  whom  I  had  known,  and  none 
of  whom  hardly  knew  one  another.  .  .  .  Cam^obell 
of  Monzie,  worn  out  with  his  week's  canvassing, 
was  going  for  the  Sunday  to  Monzie,  and  took 
advantage  of  his  audience  to  explain  his  principles. 


74  THE   BAE. 

which  he  did  as  if  he  were  a  Free  Kirk  minister, 
thumping  the  side  of  the  carriage  cushion  when 
he  grew  vehement  in  his  advocacy  of  Protestant 
doctrines,  and  hy  his  explanations  of  the  '  truth 
as  it  is  in  Jesus '  seeking  to  impress  upon  us  the 
principles  as  they  were  in  Monzie.  He  has  a 
smart,  amusing  way  of  answering,  and  told  us  a 
story  of  having  canvassed  a  man  who  seemed 
adverse  to  give  him  his  vote,  and  was  in  fact 
rather  grumpy  and  gruff  in  his  refusal  to  do  so, 
whereupon  Campbell  said,  '  But  if  you  don't  vote 
for  me,  who  will  you  vote  for  ? '  whereupon  the 
man  said  he  would  sooner  vote  for  the  devil ;  on 
which  Campbell  answered,  '  Well,  if  your  friend 
should  not  come  forward,  perhaps  you  will  give 
me  your  vote. 


>  >j 


In  another  letter  he  describes  his  experiences 
in  the  office  of  his  relation  Mr  Kobert  Oliphant, 
a  Writer  to  the  Signet  in  Edinburgh,  and  gives 
an  account  of  his  day's  work,  which  has  a  great 
air  of  dilio-ence  : — 


& 


"  Everybody  overwhelms  me  with  kindness, 
and  I  am  in  great  luck  to  be  taken  into  Robert 
Oliphant's  office  on  the  free-and-easy  terms  I  am  ; 
for  I  am  not  set  down  to  copy  useless  papers,  but 
simply  to  learn  the  routine.      The  clerks  take  a 


THE    PARLIAMENT    HOUSE.  75 

great  interest  in  me,  and  explain  the  forms,  &c. 
I  sfo  to  the  Parhament  House  at  nine  with  the 
P.  H.  clerk,  and  see  what  is  going  on,  listen  to 
cases  I  have  previously  read  in  the  ofBce,  and 
talk  to  the  various  counsel,  most  of  whom  I  know 
now.  Moreover,  it  is  useful  to  be  known  and 
seen  often  about  those  purlieus.  After  an  hour 
or  two  there  I  come  down  to  the  office,  where  I 
remain  till  four,  when  I  go  and  attend  the  Con- 
veyancing class  of  Professor  Menzies.  I  don't 
think  lectures  do  one  much  good.  I  can  get  up 
more  in  a  given  time  by  reading  ;  so  I  have  given 
up  the  Scots  Law.  .  .  .  There  are  really  no 
clever  men  at  the  Bar  now  coming  on,  but  the 
juniors  are  a  remarkably  nice  set  of  fellows.  The 
Lord  Advocate,  Inglis,  is  a  very  sharp  chap  and  a 
good  speaker,  and  out  and  out  the  cleverest  man 
at  the  bar.  So  that  there  is  a  great  opening,  and 
Robert  Oliphant  j^romises  he  will  give  me  business 
as  soon  as  I  am  called,  so  that  it  will  be  my  own 
fault  if  I  do  not  get  on.  Everything  seems  much 
simpler  than  in  England,  and  business  is  carried 
on  in  a  nice  familiar  style,  of  which  the  following 
dialogue  is  a  sort  of  sample  : — 

"  Mr  Mackenzie,  loq.  —  There  is  a  case  just 
precisely  similar  to  this  one,  my  lord,  I  might 
say  upon  a'  fours  with  it,  which  ye'll  find  in 
Dunlop,   but   I'll    no'   trouble   ye  with   it    i'   the 


76  THE   BAR. 

1100.  .  .  .  Your  lordship  '11  maybe  no'  sit  to- 
morrow ? 

"  Lord  Rohertson.  — And  why  not,  Mr  Mac- 
kenzie ?  I  think  I'm  as  well  sittin'  here  as  any- 
where else  ? 

"  Mr  Mac. — I  was  thinking,  it  being  a  partic- 
ular occasion,  out  of  respect  for  his  Grace's 
interment 

"  Lord  Boh. — I'm  no'  wanting  in  respec'  for  the 
Duke  ;  but  I'd  sooner  be  here  than  at  the  funeral, 
and  I'll  just  sit  as  usual." 

Many  readers  wiU    remember  the  jovial   and 

jocular  judge,  the 

"  Lord  Peter, 
Who  feared  not  God  nor  man  nor  metre," 

who  is  the  hero  of  this  story, — one  of  the  last 
Lords  of  Session  by  whom  "  braid  Scots "  was 
still  occasionally  spoken. 

Laurence  and  his  mother,  who  had  accompanied 
him,  occupied  during  their  residence  in  Edinburgh 
at  this  time  rooms  in  North  Castle  Street,  a 
locality  rendered  classical  by  the  long  dwelling  in 
it  of  Sir  Walter  Scott.  Sir  Anthony  Oliphant 
had  all  a  Scotsman's  admiration  and  half-senti- 
mental longing  for  Edinburgh  as  a  residence, 
and  his  son's  exhortation,  "  Do  come  home,"  had 
doubtless  all  the  more  force  as  coming  from  that 


HIS    "blackguards"    IX    WESTMINSTER.  77 

romantic  and  beloved  city.  "  We  should  all  be 
much  more  comfortable,"  the  young  man  adds  ; 
"  and,"  recurring  to  the  old  joke,  "  I  could  begin 
to  look  out  for  a  wife  under  your  auspices.  I 
don't  see  any  likelihood  of  finding  one  for  myself" 
Shortly  after,  however,  we  find  him  again  in 
London,  whither  he  went  periodically  to  "  eat  his 
terms,"  and  where  he  recurs  to  the  "  black- 
guards," his  proteges  in  Westminster.  The  move- 
ment on  behalf  of  reformed  or  reformable  thieves 
was  then  in  an  acces  of  energy,  taken  up  vigor- 
ously under  the  patronage  of  Lord  Shaftesbury, 
with  much  accompaniment  of  midnight  meetings, 
and  a  considerable  amount  of  excitement.  Among 
other  incitements  to  a  life  of  industry,  a  number 
of  these  men  had  been  set  to  cutting  wood  for 
firewood,  and  Laurence  was  much  concerned  to 
prove  that  in  patronising  this  effort  the  public 
in  general  was  not  incurring  the  reproach  of 
taking  bread  out  of  honest  people's  mouths. 

"  If  we  make  a  man  who  has  hitherto  been  dis- 
honest, honest,  instead  of  being  a  burden  to  the 
State,  he  is  a  supporter  of  it,  and  a  cheaper  article 
in  that  ca^Dacity  in  the  long-run,  though  it  may 
cost  something  to  make  him  honest.  That  strange 
obliquity  of  moral  vision  which  makes  a  large 
portion  of  the  community  Tories,  prevents  them 


78  THE    BAR. 

from  apprehending  this.  The  problem  is  evidently 
'  How  is  a  reformatory  not  a  premium  on  vice  ? ' 
We  are  now  experimentally  solving  it.  It  seems 
to  me  that  there  should  be  some  place  where, 
when  a  man  is  bankrupt  in  character,  he  might 
go  and  get  whitewashed — some  probation  through 
which  when  he  passes  he  should  come  out  regis- 
tered A  1  in  point  of  respectability.  At  present 
if  a  man  sinks  below  a  certain  level  in  this 
country,  unless  some  one  takes  him  by  the  hand, 
no  individual  efforts  on  his  part  will  raise  him 
above  it." 

One  of  the  meetings  which  followed  the  in- 
dustrial experiment  is  described  as  follows  :  "  The 
whole  thing  was  very  striking  ;  and  I  felt,  while 
a  whole  room  full  of  the  worst  characters  in 
London  were  singing  '  God  save  the  Queen '  or 
'  I  will  arise,'  that  I  ought  to  have  wept,  and 
that  you  certainly  would  have.  It  is  so  difficult 
to  realise  the  depravity  of  the  men  who  are  so 
innocently  employed,  and  in  whose  countenances 
you  can  detect  the  hard  lines  which  a  vicious  life 
has  imprinted,  but  which  are  raj^idly  becoming- 
softened  by  their  voluntary  subjection  to  a  life  of 
restraint  and  honest  industr3^  It  is  the  most 
interesting  thing  I  have  ever  seen." 

In  the  August  of  1852  Laurence  made  use  of 


A   VACATION    RAMBLE.  79 

his  first  vacation  in  a  Continental  tour  most 
happily  and  fortunately  directed,  at  first  designed 
as  a  mere  expedition  in  pursuit  of  sport,  but  turn- 
ing afterwards  to  much  more  important  issues. 
His  companion  was  Mr  Oswald  Smith,  one  of  the 
great  banking  family  of  Smith,  Payne,  &  Smith, 
between  whom  and  the  Oliphants  there  was  an 
old  family  connection,  which  had  introduced  Lau- 
rence to  the  house  of  a  member  of  the  firm,  on 
his  first  arrival  in  England.  The  youth  who  thus 
accomjDanied  him  in  one  of  his  earliest  adventures, 
contributed,  nearly  half  a  century  after,  a  brief 
but  interesting  memoir  of  his  lifelong  friend  to 
one  of  the  Magazines  on  Laurence's  death' — and 
naturally  this  boyish  expedition  occupies  a  large 
place  in  it.  Mr  Smith  is  perhaps  unduly  con- 
temptuous of  the  gifts  as  a  sportsman  of  one  who 
had  ranged  the  jungles  of  Ceylon  in  his  boyhood, 
and  hunted  elephants  with  Jung  Bahadour ;  but 
that  the  young  man,  already  familiar  with  such 
exploits,  should  look  for  a  fresh  and  unhackneyed 
field,  something  less  tame  than  a  moor  in  Scot- 
land or  the  banks  of  a  Norwecdan  fiord,  was  natural 
enough  ;  and  he  was  also  in  search  of  "  something 
to  write  about  " — a  very  legitimate  object,  if  seldom 
so  honestly  avowed.  "  The  only  part  of  Europe 
within  reach  fulfilling  the  required  condition," 
Laurence  himself  says  in  the  '  Episodes,'  "  seemed 


80  THE   EXPEDITION    TO    RUSSIA. 

to  me  the  Russian  Laj)land  :  for  I  heard  from  an 
Archanofel  merchant  that  the  Kem  and  other 
rivers  in  that  region  swarmed  with  guileless 
salmon  who  had  never  been  offered  a  fly,  and 
that  it  would  be  easy  to  cross  to  Spitzbergen  to 
get  a  shot  at  some  white  bears." 

As  it  turned  out,  this  chance  project  proved  of 
the  very  highest  importance  in  the  young  adven- 
turer's life,  and  set  him  well  afloat  upon  the  career 
of  public  service,  tempered  with  personal  fancy,  in 
which  so  many  years  were  to  be  passed.  When 
the  two  young  men  reached  St  Petersburg  they 
were  allowed  to  go  no  farther  in  their  equipment 
as  sportsmen —  though  whether  by  actual  prohibi- 
tion, or  because  of  the  excessive  duty  demanded 
on  their  fishing-gear  and  equipments,  is  not  quite 
clear.  Mr  Smith  adds  that  they  were  too  late 
in  the  year  to  go  north  with  any  chance  of  sport. 
"  It  may  give  some  idea,"  he  says,  "  of  Oliphant's 
sanguine  and  imaginative  character,  to  record 
that  his  plan  for  future  proceedings  was  to  dis- 
embark on  the  right  bank  of  the  Volga  at  Tsait- 
sin,  not  far  from  Astracan,  and  ride  over  the  Don 
Cossack  steppe,  four  hundred  miles,  to  Taganrog, 
on  the  Azof  Sea."  They  did  do  something  like 
this,  driving  in  rude  native  carriages,  and  finally 
reached  the  Crimea,  then  an  unknown  and  un- 
explored  peninsula,   and   the   mysterious  city  of 


SOMETHING    TO    \yRITE   ABOUT.  81 

Sebastopol,  of  which  many  legends,  but  no  de- 
finite and  clear  information,  had  reached  the 
world.  It  was  known  that  Russia  was  there 
establishing-  an  arsenal  and  headquarters  of  war, 
from  which  she  would  be  able  to  descend  upon 
Turkey  and  overawe  Europe ;  that  the  entry 
was  forbidden  to  strangers,  and  any  attempt  to 
make  acquaintance  with  the  place  dangerous ; 
— all  excellent  reasons  why  the  young  travellers 
should  push  their  way  thither,  which  they  did 
after  all  without  much  difficulty.  Thus  the 
"  something  to  write  about "  was  most  success- 
fully attained. 

We  find  a  full  account  of  this  journey  in  the 
letters  to  Lady  Oliphant,  beginning  with  the  very 
first  steps  from  home.  At  Berlin  they  paused  for 
a  day  or  two,  and  Laurence  takes  the  opportunity 
to  express  his  satisfaction  with  his  travelling  com- 
panion, in  a  charming  and  playful  note  full  of  boyish 
appreciation  and  fun.  "It  is  a  great  thing  having 
with  one  so  handsome  a  young  Engliinder,  as  all 
the  pretty  girls  look  our  way,  and  I  am  humble 
enough  to  be  quite  content  with  the  side-glances 
I  thus  get,  he  being  quite  unconscious  of  his  own 
attractions."  It  may  be  added  that  Laurence  was 
by  no  means  unqualified  "  to  please  a  damsel's  eye  " 
in  his  own  person,  and  was  almost  certain  to  be, 
under  any  circumstances,  the  most   entertaining 

VOL.    I.  F 


82  THE    EXPEDITION   TO    RUSSIA. 

and  attractive  person  in  his  neighbourhood  wher- 
ever he  was. 

"  The  first  thing  that  astonishes  you  as  you 
land  are  the  droskies  and  their  drivers.  The  former 
are  only  capable  generally  of  holding  one  person 
besides  the  driver,  behind  whom  the  passenger 
sits  cross-legged,  somewhat  in  that  way  [a  sketch 
is  here  given],  if  you  can  understand  this  illus- 
tration. The  latter  are  rigged  up  in  caps  like 
this  [with  another  sketch],  and  long  dressing- 
gowns,  and  longer  red  beards,  and  always  give 
you  the  benefit  of  their  flavour  as  you  sit  behind 
them.  The  chief  difliculty,  however,  consists  in 
maintaining  your  seat  over  the  pavement,  which 
is  execrable.  In  fact,  the  only  things  that  are 
old  in  the  town  are  the  droskies  and  the  pave- 
ment— everything  else  wears  an  unpleasantly  new 
and  fresh  appearance ;  and  the  builders  of  the 
city  have  fallen  into  the  mistake,  though  it  is  one 
on  the  right  side,  of  leaving  the  sj^aces  in  front 
of  the  public  buildings  immensely  large,  so  that 
the  stray  man  or  drosky  which  you  see  wander- 
ing about  them  gives  one  the  impression  of  the 
city  only  being  half  full.  Still  I  have  never  seen 
anything  to  equal  the  coup  cVceil  from  the  bridge, 
facing  the  Izak  Chin-ch  and  the  Winter  Palace, 
certainly  the  finest  of  royal  residences  in  Europe. 


LETTERS    TO    HIS    MOTHER.  83 

The  Neva  is  as  broad  as  the  Thames,  and  beauti- 
fully clear,  and  the  quays  are  handsome  and  sub- 
stantial :  however,  Murray's  handbook  describes 
the  town  much  better  than  I  can,  and  unless  we 
have  some  adventures  up  country,  I  shall  have 
nothing-  to  write  about." 

In  spite  of  this  fear,  he  manages  as  usual  to 
give  a  very  picturesque  account  of  their  evening 
visit  to  the  Mineral  Waters,  whither  they  w^ent  in 
a  steamer : — 

"  Shooting  through  bridges,  the  arches  of 
which  were  so  small  that  you  could  easily  touch 
the  key- stone  as  you  stood  on  deck,  or,  lean- 
ing over  either  side,  touch  the  stone  buttresses  : 
it  required  the  most  beautiful  steering ;  I  don't 
think  there  was  six  inches  to  spare  in  any 
direction.  Our  boat-load  consisted  of  a  crowd 
going  up  to  the  Mineral  Waters,  a  place  of  even- 
ing resort  during  the  summer  months,  and  which 
was  as  beautifully  got  up  as  Vauxhall.  However, 
it  was  too  like  it  to  be  interesting :  the  display 
of  fireworks  at  the  end  was  grand  enough.  We 
went  to  see  a  ceremony  in  the  Greek  Church  the 
other  night,  and  the  prostrations  beat  those  of 
the  most  devout  and  enthusiastic  of  Mussulmans. 
It  was  a  very  picturesque  sight  to  see  the  men 


84  THE    EXPEDITION    TO    RUSSIA. 

tossing  their  long  hair  and  beards  about  as  they 
flung  their  heads  up  and  down." 

The  next  day,  after  driving  to  a  place  called 
Gorilla,  where  they  slept,  they  "  mounted  horses 
which  had  been  sent  out  there  for  us,  and  rode 
eight  miles  to  Krasnoe-Selo  plain,  where  the 
Emperor  was  to  manoeuvre  80,000  men,  a  grand 
sham  fight  with  the  whole  Russian  army,  to  close 
the  summer  inspections." 

"  The  whole  way  to  the  ^^lains  the  white  tents 
of  the  camp  extended,  and  when  we  reached  a 
rising  ground  we  had  a  magnificent  view.  On 
a  knoll  near  us  was  the  Emjieror  with  a  bril- 
liant stafi*,  which  any  Englishman  in  uniform 
might  join  unasked  :  unfortunately  we  were 
obliged  to  keep  a  respectful  distance,  but  saw 
none  the  worse  on  that  account.  40,000  men 
under  Sidigri  advanced,  and  after  some  hard 
cannonading  with  40,000  under  the  Emperor,  and 
a  great  deal  of  dashing  about  of  cavalry  and 
horse-artillery,  drove  the  opposite  hosts  behind 
some  further  trenches.  Altogether  I  never  had 
so  good  an  idea  of  a  battle  before.  Sometimes 
the  whole  mass  was  moving  at  once,  and  the 
position  in  which  we  were  enabled  us  to  see 
everything  perfectly.     The   most   beautiful  corps 


A    SYSTEM    OF    SELF-EDUCATION.  85 

were  the  Circassian  hoi'se,  covered  with  armour, 
and  the  Cossacks,  with  their  long  beards  and  spears 
dashing  in  all  directions.  We  were  nearly  carried 
away  by  a  charge  of  hussars,  and  only  escaped  by 
sheltering  ourselves  behind  a  friendly  house." 

On  the  following  day  Laurence  announced  the 
definite  change  of  their  plans,  about  which  they 
had  been  uncertain ;  but  "  the  custom-house  has 
most  kindly  helped  us  out  of  our  dilemma  by 
deliberately  and  coolly  charging  us  £15  duty  on 
our  rods  and  guns,  which  our  prudence  at  once 
prevented  our  thinking  of  paying."  This,  how- 
ever, he  thinks  he  can  avoid,  according  to  the 
advice  of  the  Financial  Minister,  by  taking  them 
to  Finland,  a  country  which  he  has  determined 
to  visit,  and  which  is  not  yet  under  the  Russian 
custom  laws.  "  So  that  we  are  not  altogether 
sold ;  but  meantime,  as  there  is  no  such  hurry 
now  that  we  have  given  up  the  shores  of  the 
White  Sea,  we  are  first  going  to  take  a  run 
down  to  the  grand  fair  of  Nijni  Novgorod,  and 
spending  a  couple  of  days  en  retoicr  at  Moscow." 
He  regards  this  extra  expenditure  as  justifiable, 
as  he  looks  upon  his  journey  as  "  a  distinct  system 
of  self-education." 


Thoutrh   I  must  own  that  I  have  not   been 


8G  THE    EXPEDITION    TO    RUSSIA. 

able  to  find  out  much  that  is  really  inter- 
esting in  a  country  and  government  which  1 
have  always  looked  upon  as  likely  to  afford 
more  information  than  any  other  in  Europe, 
further  than  the  palpable  hindrance  which  the 
policy  of  the  Government  offers  to  any  thing- 
like  advancement  or  civilisation  where  it  is  most 
needed.  I  don't  think  we  have  anything  to  fear 
from  Kussia  :  its  gigantic  proportions  render  it 
so  unwieldy,  and  the  people  are  so  barbarous, 
that  we  shall  always  have  the  same  advan- 
tages which  our  enlightenment  gives  us  over 
the  Eastern  nations.  I  look  upon  it  as  little 
better  than  China  :  the  only  difference  is  that 
usually  barbarous  nations  hold  civilised  nations 
ill  respect,  which,  to  judge  from  the  way  they 
bully  you  in  the  custom-house,  Kussia  does  not." 

The  next  letter  is  dated  from  Moscow,  "this 
most  charming  of  cities." 

"  If  ever  there  was  a  town  that  would  bear  to 
be  written  about  it  is  this,  decidedly  ranking  with 
Khatmandhu  or  Cairo  in  general  novelty,  while  it 
is  far  before  either  in  its  particular  objects  of 
interest.  .  .  .  The  Kremlin  itself  is  the  most 
unique  and  picturesque  assemblage  of  churches 
and  ^^i-i-hices  of  ancient  and  modern   art,  and  of 


NIJNI   NOVGOROD.  87 

Eastern  and  Western  architecture,  that  could  be 
found  anywhere  collected  in  so  small  a  compass, 
and  so  happily  grouped  together.  The  gilded 
domes  and  cupolas  might  be  in  the  Punjaub, 
while  the  palace  which  they  adjoin  might  be  in 
Paris.  The  church  of  St  Basil  is  perfectly  unlike 
anything  old  or  new,  occidental  or  oriental,  and 
forms  a  most  strikino-  foreo-round  to  one  of  the 
views  of  the  Kremlin,  which  I  hope  some  day  to 
show  you." 

After  this  a  forty-eight  hours'  diligence  journey 
brought  the  two  friends  to  Nijni  Novgorod,  where 
the  great  fair  was  going  on. 

"Your  letter  reached  me  in  the  shop  of  Aaron, 
a  Jew  from  Bukharia,  who  was  regaling  us  ^^'ith 
almonds,  dried  peas,  and  raisins  in  his  warehouse 
in  the  great  fair,  and  displaying  the  wonders  that 
come  from  that  part  of  the  world.  Indeed  it  would 
be  difficult  to  think  of  a  part  of  the  world  that  did 
not  contribute  something  to  this  Russian  empo- 
rium, and  I  have  no  doubt  that  before  I  have 
done  exploring  I  shall  find  a  coir  -  mat  and 
perhaps  a  Moorman  to  sell  it  me.  ...  I  was 
rather  disappointed  in  seeing  no  Chinese,  and,  in 
fact,  not  quite  as  great  a  variety  of  costume  as  I 
expected ;  but  the  variety  of  goods  disposed  for 


88  THE   EXPEDITION    TO    RUSSIA. 

sale  compensates  in  a  great  measure  for  this,  and 
though  not  so  striking  at  first,  is  as  satisfactory 
when  one  comes  to  examine  the  shops  and  over- 
haul their  contents." 

By  some  mistake  of  the  steamboat  company's 
agfent,  Laurence  and  Smith  were  detained  at 
Nijni  Novgorod  two  days  later  than  they  ex- 
pected, and  consequently  outstayed  the  first 
freshness  of  interest.  In  his  next  letter  he 
complains — 

"It  is  a  great  bore,  when  one  wants  to  do  as 
much  as  possible  in  a  given  time,  to  be  kept  in 
a  place  after  you  have  seen  as  much  as  you 
want  of  it.  Nor  can  I  make  as  good  use  of 
my  time  as  I  might.  I  am  very  much  left  to 
myself  to  pick  up  my  information  as  I  best  can, 
and  that  is  only  by  my  eyes,  since  the  merchants 
are  too  busy  to  attend  to  one,  and  too  stupid  to 
give  any  valuable  information  upon  matters  that 
from  their  vocation  they  ought  to  know  some- 
thing of.  To-day,  therefore,  having  seen  every 
part  of  the  fair,  we  took  to  drawing,  and  found 
some  lovely  views.  The  old  town  overhangs  the 
Volga  most  picturesquely,  and  from  the  cliffs  an 
extensive  view  is  obtained  in  all  directions,  and 
a  very  interesting  one  over  the  flat  on  which  the 


WORTH    A    JOURNEY    FROM    ENGLAND.  89 

fair  is  situated,  quite  unlike  anything  I  ever  saw 
before.  The  view  was  too  difficult  and  compli- 
cated for  me  to  attempt :  the  two  rivers  Oka 
and  Volga  looked  alive  with  human  beings,  as 
well  as  the  peninsula  on  which  150,000  people 
are  hived  like  bees.  ...  I  would  not  have  missed 
this  fair  on  any  account,  though  I  would  not 
advise  everybody  to  make  the  journey  from 
Moscow  exjjres  —  whereas  I  should  almost  say 
my  father  would  consider  it  worth  a  journey  from 
England  alone." 

He  goes  on  :  "I  must  tell  you  what  we  pro- 
pose doing,  instead  of  hovering  in  a  desultory 
way  about  the  fair,  having  already  occupied  half 
the  day  in  writing  a  description  of  it,  which 
differs  so  much  from  that  given  in  Murray's 
handbook  that  I  don't  think  he  will  approve  it 
at  all.  First,  then,  there  being  two  companies 
of  steamers  lately  started  on  the  river  for  the 
purjDose  of  towing  barges  up  and  down  it,  and 
not  of  carrying  passengers  we  are  going  to  take 
advantage  of  them,  but  must  submit  to  the  in- 
convenience of  going  slowly,  and  of  starting  on 
no  fixed  day,  but  when  the  barges  are  ready. 
Still,  as  the  accommodation  is  most  comfortable, 
and  as  nobody  that  I  know  except  the  inhabit- 
ants of  this  part  of  the  world  has  been  down 
the  Volga,  we  are  going  to  try  it,  hoping  that 


90  THE   EXPEDITION    TO    RUSSIA. 

it  may  pay  in  the  way  of  interest.  The  river 
being  low,  we  shall  not  go  very  fast,  and  shall 
probably  not  get  to  Zaritzen,  our  point  of  de- 
barkation, under  ten  or  twelve  days,  during 
which  time  we  must  amuse  ourselves  as  best  we 
can.  I  regret  that  I  did  not  buy  some  solid 
books  at  Moscow,  l^ut  I  did  not  then  anticipate 
wanting  one.  You  will  see  in  the  map  that 
where  the  Volga  takes  its  last  bend  towards  the 
CasjDian,  the  Don  approaches  within  fifty  or 
sixty  miles  of  it,  and  trends  away  to  the  Sea 
of  Azof.  Here  we  cross,  and  embarking  in  a 
boat,  glide  down  this  river,  if  we  find  it  practic- 
able and  convenient  (there  being  no  steamer)  to 
Taganrog.  At  any  rate,  there  is  a  post-road  if 
we  prefer  it.  Then  a  steamer  will  take  us  on 
to  Kertch,  from  which  place  we  ride  through  the 
Crimea  to  Sevastopol,  and  then  via  Odessa  to 
Vienna  and  home.  .  .  .  The  Crimea,  at  any  rate, 
I  know  to  be  well  worth  seeino-.  We  should 
have  liked  Astrakhan  and  the  Caspian,  and 
across  via  Tiflis,  but  have  no  time  ;  and  Astra- 
khan is  a  mere  Russian  town,  not  half  so  well 
worth  seeino-  as  one  would  imayine  from  its 
name." 

The  next  letter  is  written  on  the  Volga,  which, 
in   his   usual   enthusiastic  way,   he  describes    as 


ON    THE    VOLGA.  91 

"this  most  magnificent  of  rivers."  The  account 
of  their  hfe  on  board  the  steamer  is  given  at 
length  :   they  Avere  the  only  passengers. 

"  We  have  exclusive  possession  of  the  after- 
part  of  a  ship,  having  a  sumptuous  cabin,  a  nice 
dining-room  on  deck,  and  a  good  storeroom  for  our 
necessaries.  It  was  rather  an  interestinsf  matter 
providing  for  the  start  ;  for  not  having  a  servant, 
we  w^ere  obliged  to  make  our  purchases  ourselves, 
and  rushed  about  buying  bread  and  meat  and 
groceries,  ultimately  attaining  a  considerable 
proficiency  in  making  bargains.  We  fortunately 
have  the  use  of  the  captain's  cook,  but  do  every- 
thing else  ourselves,  and  are  expert  in  laying  the 
table,  giving  out  the  necessary  stores,  and  econo- 
mising our  small  means.  Hardly  anything  is  to 
be  procured  at  the  villages  on  the  banks.  This 
morning  we  made  a  tour  of  inspection  of  our 
larder,  and  found  thirty  out  of  fifty  hard-boiled 
eggs  had  been  broken  and  Avere  bad,  and  the 
ham  had  been  put  in  a  damp  place  and  got 
mouldy  :  however,  we  hope  to  make  something 
of  it ;  but  the  eggs,  alas  !  are  gone  for  ever.  The 
experience  which  we  have  gained  in  sundry  do- 
mestic matters,  however,  will  be  useful  to  us 
hereafter,  if  we  marry  unfortunately  —  as  my 
father  did." 


92  THE    EXPEDITION    TO    RUSSIA. 

This  latter  little  j^iece  of  espieglerie,  as  well 
as  the  continued  and  delightful  references  to 
his  father,  are  very  characteristic  of  the  terms  on 
which  the  young  man  stood  wdth  both  his  ador- 
ing parents. 

After  complaining  that  the  speed  of  the  voyage 
down  the  Volga  w^as  not  quite  regular,  as  the 
barfifes  sometimes  drew  more  water  than  the 
steamers  and  ran  aground,  when  "  we  lug  away 
for  a  considerable  time  to  get  them  off,"  he  goes 
on  : — 

"  The  river  is  so  low  that  we  shall  take 
longer  to  get  to  Zaritzen  than  I  anticipated, 
and  I  may  as  well  warn  you  in  time  not  to 
expect  me  home  before  the  20th  October.  I 
shall  be  anxious  to  hear  at  Odessa  what  news 
from  Ceylon.  Our  voyage  down  the  Don  I  look 
forward  to  with  great  pleasure.  The  whole  tour 
will  be  a  novel  one,  and  I  hope  it  may  furnish 
sufficient  incidents  and  matter  to  be  interesting 
in  some  shape  or  other  to  the  public. 

"  We  are  at  this  moment  hard  and  fast  on  a 
pericarte  or  sandbank,  and  there  is  no  telling 
how  long  we  may  remain  where  we  are.  Yester- 
day we  stuck  on  one  for  nine  hours.  When  we 
pass  this  one,  and  another  one  or  two,  our  diffi- 
culties will  he  over,  and  we  shall  get  rapidly  on. 


ON    THE    VOLGA.  93 

We  are  towing  two  immense  barges,  each  320 
feet  long,  and  the  current  is  eternally  setting 
them  on  the  shallows,  much  to  our  disgust. 
However,  this  is  not  called  a  passenger  steamer, 
and  we  were  prepared  for  these  delays,  so  we 
cannot  grumble  :  besides,  except  for  the  tem- 
porary annoyance  caused  by  them,  we  could  not 
be  more  delightfully  comfortable.  Our  existence 
approaches  to  perfection  to  my  mind  —  gliding 
quietly  along  under  high  wooded  l^anks,  past 
romantic  glens  and  picturesque  villages,  along 
the  noblest  river  in  Europe ;  the  days  beautiful, 
the  climate  bracing,  the  thermometer  ranging  be- 
tween 52°  in  the  morning  and  72'  in  the  middle 
of  the  day ;  with  a  walk  and  a  sketch  of  an  after- 
noon when  we  stop  to  take  in  wood.  We  have  all 
the  elements  of  a  comfortable  existence  except 
clean  linen.  Our  larder  certainly  is  not  very 
extensive,  and  we  are  most  abstemious  in  the 
matter  of  drink,  taking  nothing  but  tea  and 
Volga.  Still,  there  is  a  considerable  pleasure 
in  laying  one's  own  table-cloth,  and  bringing  out 
one's  stores,  and  eating  them  in  contentment. 

"  I  do  not  remember  ever  having  read  an  ac- 
count of  this  part  of  the  world,  or  of  the  country 
of  the  Don  Cossacks,  through  which  we  are  going. 
Many  of  the  villages  here  are  composed  purely  of 
Tartars,  and  they  are  as  uiilike  Russians  as  Eng- 


94  THE    EXPEDITION    TO    RUSSIA. 

lish — in  fact,  they  remind  me  more  of  the  Bootyas 
in  NejDaul  than  any  other  people.  Their  dress  is 
very  curious,  and  the  women  wear  gold  coins  in 
their  hair  and  silver  breastj^lates.  The  men 
look  just  like  what  Chinese  gipsies  would  be,  if 
such  animals  existed,  swarthy  instead  of  copper- 
coloured,  with  Chinese  features." 

Sometimes  they  see  "  a  train  of  seven  or  eight 
barges  wind  slowly  up  the  river  tugged  by  a 
huge  leading  barge  containing  150  horses  and  as 
many  men,  the  latter  employed  in  laying  out 
anchors  ahead,  the  former  in  going  round  a  cap- 
stan as  they  would  in  a  threshing-machine,  and 
warping  the  barges  up  to  the  anchors." 

"  You  will  be  glad  to  hear,"  he  adds,  "  that  we 
have  at  last  overcome  or  undergone  all  pericartes, 
and  that  we  are  getting  merrily  along,  with  bright 
sunshiny  days.  This  afternoon  we  hope  to  arrive 
at  Simbirsk,  a  town  which  ought  to  be  marked 
on  the  map  as  the  capital  of  a  province.  I  en- 
joyed my  ramble  over  the  old  Tartar  capital  very 
much,  and  had  a  very  magnificent  view  from  the 
Kremlin  walls.  I  hope  the  waiter  to  whom  I 
confided  my  letter  posted  it,  as  it  contained  much 
information  which  I  cannot  now  repeat.  ...  I 
shall  not  write  again  after  leaving  Simbirsk  until 


END    OF    THE    FIRST    STAGE.  95 

I  get  to  Taganrog.  I  have  got  so  much  to  draw 
and  so  much  journal  to  write  and  so  little  to  tell, 
that  I  shall  do  no  more  now  than  repeat  that  I 
could  not  be  hap^Dier  or  enjoying  myself  more." 

This  last  threat  is  not  exactly  carried  out,  as 
we  find  Laurence  writino-  ao-ain  from  Saratov. 
He  complains,  though  not  angrily,  of  the  frequent 
delays  when  detained  "  by  people  Avho  do  not 
understand  expedition  or  regularity,  and  at  whose 
mercy  we  must  be  so  completely."  These  vexa- 
tions were,  however,  balanced  by  the  amiability 
of  his  companion,  who  never  complained,  though 
he  had  a  perfect  right  to  do  so,  seeing  that  he 
came  out  for  a  sporting  expedition,  and  had  been 
carried  off  instead  to  explore  unknown  wilds, 
much  more  satisfactory  to  Laurence,  whose  desire 
to  find  "  something  to  write  about "  was  never 
absent  from  his  mind. 

At  last,  on  the  20th  of  September,  the  friends 
arrived  at  Taganrog,  having  finished  the  still 
more  exciting  land  journey. 

"It  is  with  feelings  of  unmitigated  satisfac- 
tion that  I  date  my  letter  from  here,  after 
having  accomplished  in  five  days  and  nights 
one  of  the  most  wild,  uncouth,  and  unfre- 
quented journeys    that    even    Russia   can   boast. 


96  THE    EXPEDITION    TO    RUSSIA. 

I  confess  that  the  prospect  of  a  steppe  jour- 
ney through  the  country  of  the  Don  Cossacks 
was  a  httle  appalhng  to  us,  not  knowing  a 
word  of  the  language,  or  able  to  find  a  single 
person  who  had  ever  been  on  the  road  or  could 
give  us  any  information  upon  it.  Our  scheme 
for  going  down  the  Don  was  quite  impractic- 
able with  our  limited  time,  and  so  we  decided 
to  buy  a  carriage  at  Dubofskoi,  where  we  left 
the  steamer,  and  get  across  somehow  from  the 
banks  of  the  Volo-a  to  the  shores  of  the  Sea  of 
Azof:  there  was  no  alternative  between  doing 
this  and  going  on  to  Astrakhan  und  then  across 
the  Caucasus  by  Tiflis,  which  would  have  taken 
an  indefinite  time.  Fortunately,  even  at  such  an 
out-of-the-way  place  as  Dubofskoi,  we  found  a 
carriage,  for  which  we  had  to  pay  about  £11, 
and  launched  ourselves  upon  the  steppe.  It  was 
a  sort  of  post-road,  and  every  fifteen  or  twenty 
miles  was  a  wooden  hut,  with  a  sort  of  kraal  for 
horses  behind.  The  country  was  like  the  sea, 
with  a  heavy  ground-swell  on  and  calm  surface, 
being  covered  with  a  short  dry  grass.  Often  for 
miles  not  a  creature  was  seen  ;  sometimes  bullock- 
carts  passed  us,  or  a  wild  Cossack  galloped  by  on 
horseback,  and  here  and  there  latterly  villages 
came  pretty  thick,  with  round  houses  like  the 
haystacks    with    which    they   were   always    sur- 


ACROSS    THE    STEPPE.  97 

rounded,  and  from  which  you  could  hardly  dis- 
tincrulsh  them,  or  rag-o-ed  -  lookino-  cabins  like 
those  in  an  Irish  village,  from  which  issued  wild 
independent  -  looking  unshaven  creatures.  The 
road  was  often  a  mere  track  across  the  grass,  and 
the  country  presented  the  exact  same  appearance 
for  so  long  a  time  as  to  become  quite  wearisome. 
On  arriving  at  a  station,  we  generally  saw  no  one 
but  a  woman  or  a  child  or  two,  one  of  whom  w^ent 
and  called  a  man,  who  immediately  mounted  on 
one  of  our  last  team  and  galloped  across  the 
steppe,  bringing  back  in  half  an  hour  or  so  six  or 
eight  horses,  which  he  drove  into  the  kraal  at 
full  gallop,  selected  three,  took  half  an  hour  or 
more  to  harness  them,  and  then  went  off  with  us 
at  a  full  gallop.  Luckily  the  road  was  generally 
smooth,  but  we  occasionally  dashed  down  ugly 
places,  the  result  of  which  was  that  at  last  one 
of  the  wheels  was  so  near  coming  off  that  we  had 
to  stay  a  night  at  a  post-station — a  rest  we  were 
not  sorry  to  take,  though  it  was  on  a  wooden 
stretcher ;  but  a  sheepskin  I  bought  has  on 
sundry  occasions  made  a  capital  mattress,  only 
it  retains  the  fleas  for  a  long  time.  Our  great 
stand-by  was  the  samovar,  or  hot-water  urn  for 
making  tea,  with  which  the  poorest  peasant  is 
always  supplied.  Except  a  little  meat  at  start- 
ing, we  lived  entirely  on  hard-boiled  eggs,  rusks, 

VOL.    I.  G 


98  THE    EXPEDITION    TO    RUSSIA. 

and  cheese,  comforting  ourselves  with  some 
capital  tea  which  Ave  bought  at  Nijni.  Not  a 
thing  besides  hot  water  was  to  be  j^i'ocured  the 
whole  way,  but  the  people  were  very  civil,  though 
rough  and  barbarous  :  they  seemed  honest,  but  I 
saw  so  few  of  them  I  could  not  judge  much  about 
them  one  way  or  another.  .  .  .  Altogether, 
though  the  country  was  as  uninteresting  as  an 
Egyptian  desert,  and  we  were  dead  beat  and  as 
universally  shaken  and  nearly  coming  to  pieces 
as  our  carriage,  yet  there  is  some  satisfaction  in 
having  successfully  made  so  outlandish  a  journey 
alone.  .  .  .  Luckilv  our  carriao-e  stood  it  wonder- 
fully,  another  wheel  just  coming  off  as  we  entered 
the  inn-yard." 

At  Taganrog  the  two  young  men  heard  to 
their  dismay  that  instead  of  tAvo  steamers  a- week 
to  Kertch  there  was  but  one  a  fortnight,  an  ar- 
rangement which  seemed  to  make  the  journey  so 
painfully  and  courageously  performed  a  failure 
as  to  its  final  object.  It  is  almost  sulkily,  though 
Avith  the  natiA^e  humour,  someAvhat  angry  this 
time,  peeping  through,  that  Laurence  complains  : 
'•  Everything  is  badly  arranged  in  this  country  ; 
nobody  knoAvs  anything,  and  every  piece  of  infor- 
mation relative  to  travelling  has  been  invariably 
quite   Avrong.      I   had  hoped  to   see  the   Crimea 


RUSSIAN    REPORTS.  99 

quite  comfortably,  and  now  doubt  whether  we 
shall  have  time  to  do  it  at  all ;  but  everybody  says 
it  is  the  thing  most  well  worth  seeing  in  Kussia, 
which  will  rather  reconcile  me  to  missing  it,  as 
most  probably  this  is  a  lie  too." 

I  am  sorry  to  say  that  here  the  letters  end  : 
and  the  reader  must  be  referred  for  the  further 
course  of  the  journey  and  the  inspection  of  Sebas- 
toj)ol  which  followed  —  by  no  means  of  such 
eno-rossinii"  interest  now  as  it  was  then — to  the 
narrative  published  in  the  following  year.  The 
purpose  of  finding  something  to  write  about  was 
most  triumphantly  fulfilled,  if  not  the  sporting 
exjDedition,  which  Avas  to  one  of  the  travellers, 
at  least,  so  much  less  important.  We  can  only 
hope  that  Mr  Smith  too  was  consoled  for  the 
big  game  he  did  not  shoot,  and  the  salmon  he 
did  not  catch,  by  the  humours  and  wonders  of 
this  \vild  extraordinary  journey. 


100 


CHAPTEE    lY 


AMERICA   AND    CANADA. 


It  is  needless  to  explain  how  extremely  im2:)ortant 
this  boyish  expedition — lightly  undertaken  indeed, 
yet  not  without  that  shrewd  and  clear-sighted 
apprehension  of  coming  events  which,  Avith  all 
the  gaiety  and  all  the  daring  love  of  adventure, 
love  of  fun,  eager  pursuit  under  all  and  through 
all  of  new  experiences,  both  in  life  and  thought, 
was  an  inherent  part  of  Oliphant's  many-sided 
nature — was  in  the  story  of  his  life.  The  Crimea 
was  a  country  unknown,  and  Sebastopol  a  wonder 
and  mystery  even  while  all  the  elements  were 
working  together  to  precipitate  our  troops  upon 
its  shores.  "  In  the  middle  of  this  century,"  says 
Mr  Kinglake,^  in  the  beautiful  description  of  the 

1  These  lines  were  written  while  that  accomplished  historian  and 
traveller  was  still  with  us,  and  when  the  hope  of  his  ever-kind  and 
ready  interest  was  i:)resent  with  the  writer,  as  his  friendshij)  and 
sympathy  had  always  been  with  the  subject  of  this  memoir.  There 
have  been  many  voices  to  recall  the  wonderful  force  of  that  unique 


THE    'RUSSIAN    SHORES    OF    THE    BLACK    SEA.'    101 

Chersonese  peninsula  with  which  his  history  opens, 
"  the  peninsula  which  divides  the  Euxine  from  the 
Sea  of  Azoff  was  an  almost  forgotten  land,  lying 
out  of  the  chief  paths  of  merchants  and  travel- 
lers, and  far  away  from  all  the  capital  cities  of 
Christendom.  Karely  went  thither  any  one  from 
Paris,  or  Vienna,  or  Berlin  :  to  reach  it  from  Lon- 
don was  a  harder  task  than  to  cross  the  Atlantic  ; 
and  a  man  of  ofEce  receiving  In  this  distant  pro- 
vince his  orders  despatched  from  St  Petersburg, 
was  the  servant  of  masters  who  governed  him 
from  a  distance  of  a  thousand  miles." 

This  was  the  distance  which  the  young  explor- 
ers had  traversed ;  and  in  the  course  of  the  next 
year  their  experiences  were  laid  before  the  public 
in  the  book  called  the  '  Russian  Shores  of  the 
Black  Sea,'  which  was  really  almost  the  only  work 
in  which  the  British  reader  could  ascertain  what 
was  the  country,  and  what  the  special  dlfticulties 
of  the  war  upon  the  verge  of  which  Great  Britain 
was  now  trembling.  That  it  was  received  with 
extreme  interest,  and  at  once  secured  the  general 
attention,  is  clear  from  the  fact  that  on  the  4th 
of  March  1854  a  fourth  edition  was  called  for  and 

and  elaborate  study  of  modern  warfare  which  tilled  his  later  life, 
and  the  airy  and  sparkling  record  of  picturesque  travel  which  con- 
ferred a  blaze  of  fame  upon  his  youth.  The  gentleness  of  his  age, 
the  tenderness  of  his  sympathy,  his  ever-indulgent  criticism  and 
delightful  i^raise,  are  recollections  still  more  intimate  and  dear. 


102  AMERICA    AND    CANADA. 

in  the  press.  By  this  time  the  fact  that  such  a 
book  existed,  and  that  two  young  men  in  London 
had  penetrated  into  these  unknown  but  so  impor- 
tant regions,  seems  to  have  slowly  arrived  at  the 
consciousness  of  the  authorities,  and  on  a  memor- 
able day  Laurence  was  raised  into  sudden  excite- 
ment and  a  fever  of  hojDes  and  expectations  by  a 
summons  to  the  Horse  Guards,  to  meet  the  gen- 
erals who  were  anxiously  employed  in  the  con- 
struction of  plans  for  the  campaign,  in  order  to 
give  them  all  the  information  he  could  on  the 
sul)ject.  He  talks  in  one  letter  of  "  Oswald  rush- 
ing in  waving  a  letter  over  his  head,"  and  on 
another  occasion  of  "  a  mounted  orderly "  who 
rattled  up  to  his  door,  dazzling  all  the  lodging- 
houses  in  Half-Moon  Street,  with  a  mission  from 
these  presit  men.  The  summons  was  to  the  effect 
that  "  Lord  Raglan  wanted  to  see  me  at  once." 
He  communicates  this  briefly  to  his  father  as 
follows  : — 

"  I  accordingly  joroceeded  to  the  Ordnance, 
where  I  found  not  Lord  Rag-Ian,  but  Lord  de 
Ros,  who  questioned  me  minutely  about  Sebas- 
topol.  I  gave  him  all  the  information  I  could, 
and  sent  him  my  sketches,  extracts  from  my 
journal,  and  everything  I  could  think  useful. 
There  were  a  couple   of  old  Engineer    Colonels 


PREPARATIONS    FOR   WAR.  103 

(one  of  tliem  afterwards  identified  as  Sir  Jolm 
Burgoyne),  all  three  poring  over  a  chart  of  the 
Crimea.  They  are  evidently  going  to  try  and 
take  Sebastopol,  and  I  recommended  their  land- 
ing at  Balaclava  and  marching  across,  which  I 
think  they  will  do.  Lord  de  Bos  was  immensely 
civil.  I  think  Lord  Baglan  ought  in  civility  to 
make  me  his  civil  secretary.  It  would  be  great 
fun.  I  met  Lord  de  Bos  ag-ain  this  mornino-  and 
had  a  long  talk  with  him.  I  did  not  mention  my 
anxiety  to  get  out.  It  is  very  ticklish  saying 
anything  about  one's  self  on  such  occasions,  and 
I  must  just  bide  my  time  and  qualify  myself 
— be  able  to  answer  the  lash,  as  you  always 
say." 

The  excitement  and  eager  hope  produced  by 
these  interviews  may  be  imagined.  It  was  almost 
impossible  for  the  young  man  to  believe  that 
nothing  would  come  of  them.  He  plunged  into 
the  study  of  Turkish,  and  read  everything  he 
could  lay  his  hands  on  to  qualify  himself  for 
whatever  share  might  come  to  him  in  the  tre- 
mendous enterjDrise,  for  which  the  country,  so 
long  unused  to  war,  and  with  her  sword  more  or 
less  rusty  in  its  scabbard,  was  with  great  general 
excitement  preparing.  Laurence  had  been,  almost 
from  the  moment  of  his  arrival  in  Eno-land,  and 


104  AMERICA    AND    CANADA. 

notwithstanding  his  law  studies  and  prehminary 
work  in  that  profession,  avowedly  seeking  his 
fortune,  with  a  keen  eye  upon  the  horizon  for  any- 
thing that  might  turn  up.  He  had  already  leaped 
into  a  considerable  literar}^  connection.  Mr  John 
Blackwood,  the  editor  of  the  well-known  Maga- 
zine, a  man  of  remarkable  literary  perception  and 
insight,  had  at  once  divined  an  invaluable  con- 
tributor in  the  young  writer ;  and  he  had  also 
formed  a  connection  with  the  '  Daily  News,'  then 
a  new  paper,  sparkling  with  literary  life  and 
interest,  the  first  competitor  of  the  '  Times.'  His 
first  arrangement  with  this  newspaper  was  that 
he  should  contribute  articles  at  two  guineas  a 
column ;  but  when  he  felt  the  wave  under  him 
floating  him  upwards,  Laurence,  who  had  always 
a  most  clear  and  practical  business  faculty,  thought 
this  remuneration  to  be  inadequate,  and  in  the 
same  letter  which  describes  his  interview  with 
the  generals  he  informs  his  father  that  he  had 
"called  at  the  'Daily  News'  office  and  said  I 
could  not  afford  to  write  at  two  guineas  a  column, 
so  they  offered  to  double  it  on  the  spot  :  terms 
which  I  accordingly  accepted,  and  have  knocked 
off*  twelve  guineas'  worth  last  week.  I  cannot 
always  carry  on  at  this  rate,  however,  as  I  run 
dry.  As  it  is,  I  am  obliged  to  write  bosh  occa- 
sionally, which  1  don't  like  doing ;  but  the  public 


THE   EASTERN    QUESTION.  105 

are  so  gullible,   that   it  is  difficult  to  resist  the 
temptation." 

The  new  hope,  however,  carried  him  away  from 
all  his  existing  interests.  "  I  hear  nothing  but 
the  Eastern  question  talked  of  now,"  he  says  ; 
"  and  as  I  am  appealed  to  as  an  authority, 
although  I  originally  knew  nothing  more  about 
it  than  my  neighbours,  I  have  got  it  up  carefully, 
in  order  to  answer  expectations."  He  was,  how- 
ever, by  no  means  idle  in  respect  to  charitable 
and  philanthropic  engagements  even  during  this 
time  of  suspense.  "  On  Monday  I  have  to  deliver 
a  lecture  to  what  is  anticipated  to  be  a  crowded 
audience  upon  reformatory  institutions  ;  on  Tues- 
day to  make  a  speech  at  a  public  meeting  for  the 
Belgravian  Ragged  Schools  ;  on  Wednesday  to  a 
large  soiree  to  meet  the  swells  who  take  an  in- 
terest in  these  things.  Last  Sunday  I  gave  an 
address  to  my  blackguards  at  Westminster." 
Thus  his  hands  were  full  as  he  stood  and  waited 
for  fate. 

The  immediate  decision  came,  as  often  happens, 
in  an  entirely  unexpected  way.  He  had  long  en- 
tertained hopes  of  the  help  and  patronage  of  Lord 
Elgin,  with  whose  family,  and  especially  wdth  his 
sisters  Lady  Charlotte  Locker  and  Lady  Augusta 
Bruce  (afterw^ards  Stanley),  Lady  Oliphant  had 
warm  relations  of  friendship  ;  and  it  was  in  the 


106  AMEEICA   AND    CANADA. 

midst  of  the  excitements  of  the  Crimean  question, 
when  his  attention  was  wholly  bent  in  another 
direction,  that  these  hopes  suddenly  came  to  fruit. 
He  was  hanging  amid  alternate  hopes  and  fears, 
"  extremely  anxious  to  take  part  in  the  Crimean 
campaign  in  some  capacity  or  other,"  and  ready 
to  "  accept  an  offer  of  the  late  Mr  Delane  to 
go  out  as  '  Times '  corresjDondent,  had  not  Lord 
Clarendon  kindly  held  out  hopes  that  he  would 
send  me  when  an  opportunity  offered,"  when  pro- 
motion came  in  this  totally  different  quarter.  "  It 
was  while  anxiously  awaiting  this  that  Lord  Elgin 
proposed  that  I  should  accompany  him  to  Wash- 
ington on  special  diplomatic  service  as  secretary ; 
and  as  the  mission  seemed  likely  to  be  of  short 
duration  I  gladly  accepted  the  offer,  in  the  hope 
that  I  might  be  back  in  time  to  find  employment 
in  the  East  before  the  war  was  over."  His  ex- 
pectation was  realised,  as  will  be  seen,  notwith- 
standing that  the  length  of  his  absence  exceeded 
his  calculations,  and  his  position  latterly  was  more 
important  than  he  had  expected.  Thus  after  fix- 
ing all  his  thoughts  upon  the  East,  he  was  carried 
off  in  an  exactly  opposite  direction,  and  began  his 
active  work  with  all  the  interest  and  excitement 
of  a  rapid  and  special  mission,  in  the  New  World, 
with  which  in  after-life  he  was  to  have  so  much 
and  so  close  connection. 


THE    PARENTS    AT    HOME.  107 

During  this  period  of  absence  the  letters  of 
Lady  OHphant,  addressed  to  her  son  in  America, 
aftbrd  a  companion  picture  to  his  minute  and 
careful  record.  The  mother's  anxious  prayers 
for  her  only  child,  her  fears  for  him,  her  expres- 
sions of  confidence,  lier  intense  longing  for  his 
spiritual  improvement  and  growth  in  grace,  re- 
veal as  in  a  mirror  the  tender  woman's  pious  and 
sensitive  soul,  and  her  absorption  in  her  son's 
interests  and  fortunes.  Still  more  interesting 
and  individual,  perhaps  (for  religious  longings 
and  counsels  are  inevitably  much  alike,  to  whom- 
soever addressed),  is  the  cheerful  background  of 
the  temporary  home  in  Edinburgh,  where  her 
husband  by  this  time  had  joined  her,  and  in 
which  the  humour  and  good  sj^irits  of  Sir  An- 
thony brightened  the  whole  scene,  though  he  too 
could  think  of  nothing  so  much  as  his  absent  son. 
Before  he  left  Ceylon  on  his  final  retirement 
from  ofiice,  the  father  had  communicated  to  his 
wife  and  son  his  readiness  to  follow  the  fortunes 
of  the  beloved  boy.  "I  do  not  know,"  he  says, 
"  that  I  have  ever  clearly  expressed  myself,  but 
if  not,  fully  understand  that  I  am  quite  prepared 
to  go  to  any  place  in  Europe  to  which  Lowry 
may  go,  whether  as  attache  or  anything  else.  So 
long  as  it  pleases  God  to  spare  us,  let  us  all  stick 
together."     The  parents  remained  in  Edinburgh 


108  AMERICA    AND    CANADA. 

till  Lowry  should  return  from  his  American  mis- 
sion, waiting  to  see  what  Providence  might  have 
in  store  for  him,  and  fully  determined  to  carry 
out  this  purpose.  One  can  scarcely  help  the 
question,  whether  the  lively  and  adventurous 
young  man  would  have  been  made  much  happier 
by  their  determination,  or  if  the  thought  of  his 
father  and  mother  following  him  everywhere  in 
his  erratic  course  might  not  have  appeared  a 
little  embarrassing  as  well  as  ludicrous.  The 
old  Judge,  however,  repeated  his  intention  to  some 
of  his  friends  in  Edinburgh  in  a  more  humorous 
way.  "  The  wdfe  is  buttoned  to  Lowry's  coat-tails," 
he  said,  "  and  I  am  tied  to  her  apron-strings.  I 
am  just  like  the  last  carriage  in  a  train,  w^aggling 
after  them  just  where  they  please  to  lead."  They 
looked  forward  to  some  permanent  appointment 
for  Lowry,  in  London  perhaps  best,  with  their 
own  house  open  to  all  who  could  serve  or  please 
him,  and  the  beloved  son  coming  and  going.  For 
Sir  Anthony  at  least  this  dream  of  happiness  was 
never  to  come  true. 

A  full  account  of  Laurence's  first  experi- 
ences in  diplomacy  has  been  written  by  himself 
in  his  '  Episodes  in  a  Life  of  Adventure,'  and  it  is 
a  very  amusing  chapter.  The  object  of  the 
mission  was  to  negotiate  a  commercial  treaty 
between  Canada  and  the  United  States,  and  in 


A    COMMERCIAL    TREATY.  109 

the  execution  of  a  piece  of  business  so  serious, 
and  which  was  supposed  so  unhkely  to  succeed, 
Lord  Elgin  and  his  staff  approached  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  American  nation  with  all  the 
legitimate  wiles  of  accomplished  and  astute 
diplomacy.  They  threw  themselves  into  the  so- 
ciety of  Washington — which  in  those  days  was 
apparently  much  more  racy  and  original  than  it 
seems  to  be  now,  when  American  statesmen  have 
grown  dull,  correct,  and  dignified  like  other 
men  —  with  the  abandon  and  enjoyment  of  a 
group  of  visitors  solely  intent  on  pleasure.  Lord 
Elgin's  enemies  afterwards  described  the  treaty 
as  "  floated  through  on  champagne."  "  Without 
altogether  admitting  this,  there  can  be  no  doubt," 
Laurence  says,  "  that  in  the  hands  of  a  skilful 
diplomatist  that  liquor  is  not  without  its  value." 
The  ambassador  had  been  informed  that  if  he 
could  overcome  the  opposition  of  the  Democrats, 
which  party  had  a  majority  in  the  Senate,  he 
would  find  no  difliculty  on  the  part  of  the 
Government.  But  the  young  secretary,  keen 
as  was  his  intelligence,  did  not  see  his  way 
at  first  through  the  feasting  and  the  gaiety 
into  which  his  chief  plunged.  "  At  last,  after 
several  days  of  uninterrupted  festivity,  I  began 
to  perceive  what  we  were  driving  at.  To  make 
quite  sure,  I  said  one  day  to  my  chief,  '  I  find  all 


110  AMERICA    AND    CANADA, 

my  most  intimate  friends  are  Democratic  sena- 
tors.' '  So  do  I,'  he  replied,  drily."  This  was  the 
young  man's  first  lesson  in  statecraft.  The  story 
of  the  expedition,  as  it  more  immediately  con- 
cerned himself,  Avas  communicated  to  his  parents 
in  a  series  of  long  letters,  beginning  with  the 
approach  to  Washington  : — 

"  We  never  went  through  a  tunnel  the  whole 
journey,  and  were  therefore  well  able  to  see 
the  country.  When  we  came  to  towns  we 
went  slap  down  the  main  streets,  there  being 
nothing  to  keep  little  children  from  playing 
upon  the  rails,  except  '  Look  out  for  the  loco- 
motive' stuck  up  on  boards.  When  we  get 
to  the  middle  of  the  town  we  stop  before  the 
principal  hotel,  and  steps  are  put  up  for  us  as  if 
we  w^ere  a  coach  changing  horses.  The  houses 
are  shaded  by  fine  old  trees,  and  telegraph  wires 
run  overhead  in  every  direction,  like  bridges  from 
one  cocoa-nut  tree  to  another  in  Ceylon.  Niggers 
become  plentiful  as  we  get  South,  and  we  have 
had  three  experiences  of  waiters  in  hotels.  At  the 
Clarendon  there  was  not  a  man  at  all.  We  were 
waited  on  entirely  by  rather  pretty  bare-armed 
maidens  in  a  becoming  and  uniform  costume ; 
remarkably  agreeal^le  I  thought  it.  They  used  to 
be  very  attentive  to  me  at  dinner,  as  they  saw  I 


AMERICAN    HOTELS.  Ill 

appreciated  their  charms.  There  were  at  least 
fifty  waiting  every  day.  Then  at  the  St  Nicholas 
we  had  regular  civilised  waiters — I  am  afraid  to 
say  how  many — but  everything  is  done  at  the 
same  moment,  and  there  is  a  procession  of  full 
and  empty  dishes  which  takes  about  five  minutes 
to  complete  itself.  Then  at  Philadelphia  all  the 
waiters  were  niggers,  and  now  we  are  in  the  land 
of  ^thio23ian  serenaders.  We  reached  Philadel- 
phia about  twelve  o'clock.  The  scenery  as  we 
approached  became  very  pretty,  the  rail  passed 
along  the  banks  of  the  broad  Delaware,  fringed 
with  bright  foliage  to  the  water's  edge,  and 
clothed  with  islands.  The  wood  is  all  of  com- 
paratively young  growth ;  but  the  country  is 
often  charmingly  diversified.  Philadelphia  is  the 
second  city  in  the  Union,  and  the  handsomest. 
The  broad  streets  lined  with  trees,  the  shady 
squares,  the  massive  white  marble  houses,  all 
add  to  its  imposing  appearance.  We  only  stayed 
there  an  hour,  and  then  went  to  a  terminus  or 
depot,  as  it  is  called,  at  the  other  end  of  the 
town.  For  day  travelling  the  American  cars 
are  very  convenient  :  they  are  always  full  of 
pretty  girls,  and  if  the  scenery  is  not  pretty  you 
can  look  at  them, — they  are  always  sure  to  be 
looking  at  you.  In  the  same  carriage  with  us  we 
had  that  notorious  Irish  "  patriot "  John  Mitchell, 


112  AMERICA    AND    CANADA. 

another  editor  of  a  paper,  a  very  disreputable- 
looking  blackguard,  and  Routledge  the  cheap 
publisher,  an  intelligent,  pushing  fellow,  who  is 
come  over  to  spy  out  the  nakedness  of  the  land, 
and  is  going  to  set  up  a  shop  in  the  States  and 
Canada,  and  beat  the  Yankees  on  their  own 
ground." 

Passing  on  through  Maryland,  the  first  slave 
State,  they  spent  an  hour  at  Baltimore,  which 
is  described  as  being  "  more  full  of  niggers  and 
less  of  trees  than  the  others  we  had  seen  "  :  this 
time  was  occupied  in  visiting  the  Roman  Catholic 
cathedral.  They  then  j^i'oceeded  by  train  to 
Washington,  where  they  arrived  late  in  the  even- 
ing. After  dinner  they  were  "  energetic  enough 
to  go  at  once  to  the  Capitol  to  see  the  final 
vote  taken  on  the  Nebraska  Bill,  a  measure 
which  has  caused  more  sensation,  and  is  likely 
to  lead  to  more  important  results,  than  any 
which  has  ever  come  before  Congress." 

"  Considering,  however,  the  tone  of  the  paj)ers, 
there  was  not  so  much  excitement  manifested 
as  I  had  anticipated.  The  whole  place  M^as 
crowded,  the  galleries  full  of  ladies,  and  when 
the  bill  in  favour  of  slavery  was  carried  by  100  to 
113,  the  cheering  was  considerable.     It  is  likely  to 


CONGRESS.  1 1 


o 


lead  to  totally  new  combinations  of  parties,  and 
the  candidates  at  the  next  election  will  go  to 
the  country  upon  the  question  of  slavery  or 
abolition.  It  may  jjossibly,"  he  goes  on,  "  lead 
to  a  revolution,  so  strong  is  the  feeling  on  both 
sides.  Members  have  come  to  Congress  every 
night  armed  to  the  teeth,  and  it  is  quite  an  ac- 
cident that  there  has  not  been  a  row  :  however, 
it  is  all  over  for  the  present,  and  there  is  a  lull, 
during  which  we  hope  to  effect  our  little  plans. 
I  was  rather  disappointed  at  there  not  being  a 
row,  and  only  two  honourable  members  were 
drunk.  One  was  obliged  to  be  carried  out,  but 
did  not  show  any  sport ;  the  other  asked  me  what 
the  fools  were  voting  about :  considering  the  row 
there  was  at  the  time,  I  should  not  have  been 
surprised  at  the  question  even  had  he  been  sober." 

Laurence  found  the  hotel  at  Washing-ton  un- 
comfortable,  and  the  aspect  of  the  place  depres- 
sing, consisting  of  a  wide  long  avenue,  with  the 
Capitol  at  one  end  and  the  President's  house  at 
the  other.  In  fact,  as  he  says  of  it,  "  it  is  a  town 
without  a  population,  and  exists  only  by  virtue 
of  its  being  the  seat  of  Government."  He  found 
his  time  also  a  good  deal  taken  up,  not  with 
actual  official  work,  but  with  much  moving  about, 
in    constant    attendance    on    Lord    Elgin.       The 

VOL.    I.  H 


114  AMERICA    AND    CANADA. 

Queen's  Birthday,  however,  broke  the  monotony 
a  httle. 

"  There  was  a  grand  flare  -  up  at  Crampton's, 
at  which  all  the  beauty  and  fashion  of  Wash- 
inerton  were  assembled.  There  were  numbers 
of  pretty  girls,  who  were  delighted  at  getting 
hold  of  Mr  Oliphant,  '  the  traveller,'  for  by  that 
term  I  am  always  introduced,  and  I  found  it 
difiicult  to  be  free  and  easy  enough  to  please 
them.  For  instance,  one  carried  me  off  to  a  quiet 
bench  in  the  o-arden,  and  because  I  did  not  sit 
down,  but  stood  respectfully  talking,  she  got  up, 
saying,  '  Well,  if  you  won't  sit  down  alongside 
of  me,  it's  no  use  my  sitting  here  all  night.'  I 
need  not  say  that  after  such  an  invitation  I  ex- 
erted myself  in  a  way  which  won  her  affections 
'  slick  off".'  Notwithstanding  which,  I  was  rather 
astonished  when,  being  seduced  by  her  into  a 
waltz,  the  only  one  in  which  I  indulged,  a  fellow 
came  up  and  took  '  a  twist  with  my  gal.'  I 
asked  whether  that  was  the  custom,  and  was 
assured  that  I  had  nothing  to  complain  of. 
Another  girl  whom  I  took  in  to  supper  asked  for 
ice,  so  I  gave  her  some,  and  could  only  find  a 
fork,  which  I  handed  to  her,  on  which  she  said, 
'  Fancy  eating  ice  with  a  fork  ! '  However,  I  paid 
her  off  by  handing  her  a  huge  table-knife,   and 


AMERICAN    YOUNG   LADIES.  115 

pointincr  in  justification  to  a  lady  who  was  ladling 
in  cream  in  a  way  frightfully  dangerous  to  behold. 
Most  of  the  young  ladies  I  was  introduced  to 
asked  me  to  call  upon  them.  Yesterday  we  had 
a  great  day  in  the  Senate,  and  there  is  to  be 
some  serious  squabbling  there  to-day,  which  I 
am  going  up  with  Lord  E.  to  hear." 

The  interesting  part  of  American  politics  at 
this  time  would  appear  to  have  been  the  "  rows  "  ; 
and  diplomatic  work  with  Lord  Elgin  could  not 
have  been  very  fatiguing,  since,  as  he  says,  they 
were  engaged  every  night  for  a  week,  and  "  the 
serious  business  of  our  visit  is  not  yet  in  train." 
Laurence,  however,  entertained  no  doubt  of  his 
own  diplomatic  abilities  when  they  should  be 
called  for. 

"  I  have  been  engaged  making  arrangements 
for  interviews  with  Ministers  all  the  morninof, 
and  my  diplomatic  powers  are  considerably  in 
request,  as  they  are  'cute  dodgy  fellows,  and 
have  always  got  a  sinister  motive  in  the  back- 
ground, which  it  is  sometimes  difficult  to  discover. 
To-morrow,  I  suppose,  we  shall  be  hard  at  it :  I 
shall  be  delighted.  At  the  same  time,  this  is  a 
most  relaxing  and  depressing  place,  close  muggy 
air  —  Kandy  temperature  exactly  —  and  streets 


116  AMEEICA   AND    CANADA. 

silent  and  lifeless.  The  last  place  in  the  world, 
notwithstanding  the  pretty  girls,  that  I  should 
choose  as  a  residence.  I  am  going  to  join  their 
riding-parties  if  I  have  time,  and  will  get  to 
know  them  '  to  their  middle  initials,'  the  height 
of  Yankee  intimacy." 

The  next  letter,  also  from  Washington,  is  dated 
the  28th  May,  and,  stimulated  by  the  receipt  of 
a  letter  from  his  mother,  is  full  of  grave  personal 
subjects.  He  finds  himself  in  a  difficult  position, 
delighted  and  grateful  for  the  expression  of  her 
increased  confidence  in  him,  and  her  joy  at  the 
proofs  she  receives  of  his  changed  and  improved 
character ;  but  at  the  time  tormented  by  the 
thought  that  while  he  would  not  by  throwing 
doubt  on  these  proofs  take  away  any  of  her 
consolation,  he  could  not  persuade  himself  that, 
though  he  was  a  little  the  better  for  his  experi- 
ence, there  was  any  real  cause  for  self-gi^atulation. 

"  My  experience,"  he  says,  "  has  always  been 
very  slow  indeed,  and  while  I  recognise  that 
an  important  change  has  been  going  on  in  my 
sentiments  upon  many  things,  still  I  feel  as  much 
embarrassed  and  perplexed  as  I  ever  did.  Not 
that  I  am  rendered  in  any  way  so  miserable  as 
I  used  to  be,  nor  that  I  ever  experience  those 


THE    STRUGGLE    OF    LIFE.  117 

violent  revulsions  of  feeling ;  but  wherever  there 
is  a  struggle  there  must  be  times  of  depression. 
It  is  a  merciful  thing  that  I  take  very  little  plea- 
sure in  that  gaiety  in  which  I  am  obliged  to  mix, 
and  by  which  formerly  I  should  have  been  intoxi- 
cated. And  perhaps  the  pleasure  of  life  seems 
much  diminished  by  the  reflection  that  one  must 
be  in  a  dangerous  condition  if  one  is  not  sacrific- 
ing some  favourite  passion,  however  much  it  may 
be  changed  by  the  progress  of  time,  &c.,  &c.  I 
heard  this  morning  an  admirable  sermon,  and  one 
M^hich  was  peculiarly  applicable  to  me,  in  answer 
to  my  desire  that  I  should  hear  something  to 
stimulate  to  more  vigorous  resistance  — upon  '  one 
thing  thou  lackest.'  My  difficulty  is  to  realise 
divine  things  sufficiently  to  encourage  me.  The 
strongest  incentive  I  have  to  follow  my  convic- 
tions upon  such  subjects  is  the  inward  peace  and 
comfort  which  doing  so  has  always  brought  to 
me,  and  the  opposite  effisct  of  indulging  myself 
Therefore  upon  the  lowest  grounds  I  am  disjDosed 
to  practise  self-denial.  In  my  present  capacity  I 
am  not  engaged  in  any  work  of  benevolence  or 
charity  by  which  I  could,  as  it  were,  support  my- 
self. And  though,  no  doubt,  by  my  example  I 
might  glorify  God,  it  is  a  much  more  difficult 
matter  to  do  so  in  a  ball-room  at  the  French 
ambassador's,    surrounded    by    as    unthinking    a 


118  AMERICA    AND    CANADA. 

throng  as  ever  tripped  the  hght  fantastic,  than 
down  in  Westminster  surrounded  by  M'Gregor, 
Fowler,  &  Co.  At  the  same  time,  I  never  saw 
more  clearly  the  possibility  of  living  in  the  world 
and  not  being  of  it.  At  present  I  am  as  satisfied 
that  it  is  my  duty  to  go  to  balls  as  to  go  to  the 
Sunday  -  school  was,  provided  I  go  in  a  right 
spirit ;  but  it  is  easy  to  theorise.  Perhaps  I  shall 
have  an  opportunity  of  testing  my  resolution  in 
a  very  simple  matter,  about  which  nevertheless 
you  have  often  expressed  yourself — the  matter  of 
champagne.  In  Edinburgh  I  did  not  think  it 
worth  the  sacrifice  ;  but,  as  is  often  the  case,  one 
is  forced  into  a  line  of  conduct  by  the  additional 
force  of  the  temj^tation.  It  was  only  this  morn- 
ing that  I  felt  the  duty  of  putting  the  restraint 
upon  myself  of  total  abstinence,  from  my  yester- 
day's exjDcrience,  which  was  as  follows  : — 

"At  two  o'clock  our  whole  party  went  to  a  grand 
luncheon  at  a  senator's.  Here  we  had  every  sort 
of  refreshing  luxury,  the  day  being  pipingiy  hot, 
and  dozens  of  champagne  were  polished  oft'.  Sev- 
eral senators  got  screwed,  and  we  made  good  use 
of  the  two  hours  we  had  to  spare  before  going 
to  the  French  ambassador's  matinee  dansante  at 
four.  Here  the  same  thing  went  on,  with  the 
addition  of  a  lot  of  pretty  girls  whom  I  had 
before  met,  and  who  bullied  one  to  dance,  and 


CHAMPAGNE.  119 

were  disgusted  if  you  did  not  flirt  with  them. 
Everybody  drinks  champagne  here,  and  there 
was  a  bowl  on  the  table  in  which  you  might  have 
drowned  a  baby,  of  most  delicious  and  insinuat- 
ing concoction.  Then  there  were  gardens,  and 
bouquets,  and  ices,  and  strawberries,  and  bright 
eyes  till  six,  when  we  had  to  rush  off  and  dress 
for  a  grand  dinner  at  a  governor's.  Here  we  had 
a  magnificent  repast.  The  old  story  of  cham- 
pagne, besides  a  most  elaborate  and  highly  got 
up  French-cookery  dinner,  lasting  from  seven  till 
ten,  when  we  left  the  table,  having  been  eating 
and  drinking  without  intermission  since  two. 
We  then  adjourned  with  a  lot  of  senators  to 
brandy-and-water,  champagne,  and  cigars  till 
twelve,  when  some  of  us  were  quite  ready  to 
tumble  into  bed.  Now  I  have  no  doubt  you  are 
perfectly  horrified,  and  picture  to  yourself  your 
inebriated  son  going  to  bed  in  a  condition  3^ou 
never  thought  possible ;  but,  on  the  contrary, 
yesterday  was  a  most  jDi'ofitable  day  to  me.  In 
the  first  place,  though  I  did  not  restrain  myself, 
I  did  not  in  the  slightest  degree  exceed.  I  did 
not  touch  anything  else  hut  champagne,  and 
stopped  exactly  at  the  right  moment.  I  felt  all 
through  that  I  was  in  a  position  not  of  my  own 
seeking,  and  that  if  it  was  agreeable  to  me  it  was 
because  I  myself  was  at  fault.     I  felt  that  it  was 


120  AMERICA    AND    CANADA. 

only  not  positively  disgusting  because  I  partici- 
pated, and  that  if  I  had  not  touched  a  thing  I 
could  not  but  have  been  excessively  bored.  I 
have  therefore  resolved  never  to  touch  another 
drop  of  champagne  while  in  Washington,  not 
because  I  took  too  much,  but  because  I  see  that 
whether  I  am  doing  right  or  wrong  depends 
entirely  upon  the  spirit  in  which  I  participate 
in  these  things.  It  is  necessary  to  the  success 
of  our  mission  that  we  conciliate  everybody,  and 
to  refuse  their  invitations  would  be  considered 
insulting.  Lord  Elgin  pretends  to  drink  im- 
mensely, but  I  watched  him,  and  I  don't  believe 
he  drank  a  glass  between  two  and  twelve.  He 
is  the  most  thorough  diplomat  possible, — never 
loses  sight  for  a  moment  of  his  object,  and  while 
he  is  chaffing  Yankees  and  slapping  them  on  the 
back,  he  is  systematically  pursuing  that  object. 
The  consequence  is,  he  is  the  most  popular 
Eno-lishman  that  ever  visited  the  United  States. 
If  you  have  got  to  deal  with  hogs,  what  are  you 
to  do  ?  As  Canning  said  of  a  man,  '  He  goes 
the  whole  hog,  and  he  looks  the  hog  he  goes,' 
which  is  precisely  a  description  of  this  respectable 
race  ;  but  I  have  no  occasion  even  to  pretend  to 
drink  their  wine,  and  I  shall  therefore  not  do  it. 
I  was  perfectly  well  this  morning,  but  Sir  Cusack 
Eoney  and  Hincks  are  both  laid  up — jDoor  Sir  Q., 


A    JOYOUS    TEMPERAMENT.  121 

as  we  call  him,  fairly  knocked  up,  or  rather  down, 
by  such  unaccustomed  proceedings.  As  I  said,  I 
am  so  far  grateful  to  it  all  if  it  is  the  means  of 
making  me  form  resolutions  and  sticking  to  them, 
which  less  prominent  dissipation,  such  as  that  of 
Edinbuigh,  would  never  have  done. 

"  But  a  far  more  difficult  matter  than  the  cham- 
pagne is  the  young  ladies.  My  natural  tempera- 
ment not  being  amorous  but  very  joyous,  I  get  too 
boisterous,  or  rather  reckless,  in  flirting,  for  simple 
fun.  Therefore,  though  there  is  no  absolute  com- 
mand against  other  than  idle  words,  which  is  one 
none  of  us  can  very  strictly  apply,  yet  I  feel  that 
I  have  been  talking  an  amount  of  nonsense  of 
which  my  conscience  is  ashamed,  and  the  effect 
of  a  whole  afternoon  spent  in  the  way  I  have 
described,  which  would  formerly  be  to  distract 
and  unsettle  me,  has  been  to  sober  and  solemnise 
me,  and  to  make  me  think  how  I  am  to  meet  the 
difficulties  opposed  to  me.  Under  other  circum- 
stances, I  should  keep  away  from  the  drinking — 
this  would  be  no  sacrifice ;  from  the  ladies  it 
would  be  one  that  I  could  easily  make.  I  should 
call  upon  the  missionaries  if  I  was  going  to  live 
here,  and  em]3loy  myself  as  I  did  in  London  ;  but 
I  am  called  upon  to  join  in  everything,  and 
my  conscience  would  not  in  the  slightest  degree 
twit  me  for  doing  so,  provided  I  was  all  the  time 


122  AMERICA    AND    CANADA. 

bored  instead  of  pleased.  The  test  of  the  thing 
is  whether  I  like  it,  and  though  I  cannot  say  I 
do,  I  very  soon  would,  and  therefore "  it  is  I  must 
be  especially  watchful,  while  it  would  be  compara- 
tively easy  for  me  to  form  and  keep  resolutions  : 
and  I  have  enjoyed  the  quiet  of  to-day  and  the 
sermon,  which  was  very  comforting,  though  it 
inculcated  a  serious  lesson.  I  am  glad  you  spoke 
about  the  tobacco,  but  at  present  there  is  no  fear 
of  that ;  Lord  Elgin  hates  smoking,  and  I  do  not 
like  it  in  this  jovial  soil  of  parties.  I  have  not 
smoked  half-a-dozen  cigars  since  leaving  England, 
and  every  one  has  been  a  solitary  one,  when  I 
wanted  to  comj)ose  myself  and  think.  I  think  it 
prostitutes  tobacco  to  drink  and  talk  over  it. 
However,  I  shall  never  care  really  about  it,  and 
it  is  very  seldom  that  I  am  in  the  humour — 
generally  when  I  am  disgusted  with  myself;  and 
I  am  more  self-satisfied,  or  to  speak  more  truly, 
have  more  tranquillity  than  I  used  to  have,  and 
do  not  need  soothing.  Your  letter  was  worth  all 
the  ciofars  in  the  world." 

After  what  he  himself  termed  "  this  lonof  con- 
fession,"  the  letter  turned  to  business.  He  had 
received  much  applause  in  America  on  the  subject 
of  his  book,  and  had  begun  to  inquire  within 
himself  v/hether  he  could  write  a  book  which  he 


A    BOOK    OX    AMERICA.  123 

felt  ought  to  be  written — namely,  a  philosophical 
treatise  on  the  American  constitution,  with  the 
chief  heads  of  "  slavery,  federalism,  and  the  great 
questions  upon  which,  sooner  or  later,  the  Union 
must  fall  to  pieces."  This,  by  the  way,  in  1854, 
was  not  a  bad  prophecy  for  a  young  man,  who 
had  not  been  in  the  country  a  month.  "  The 
fallacies  of  the  form  of  government,"  he  says, 
"are  only  dawning  on  me,  and  I  should  require 
a  long  course  of  reading  and  observation  before 
entering  ujDon  so  serious  a  task ;  but  it  would  be 
the  most  interesting  topic  possible,  and  one  which, 
when  it  does  force  itself  upon  public  attention, 
will  engross  the  whole  world."  Right  as  he  was 
in  some  of  his  prognostics,  he  had  no  time  to 
give  to  this  work,  though  he  left  the  subject  with 
a  whimsical  regret,  "  It  would  be  a  great  thing  to 
have  another  book  out  in  the  nick  of  time." 

One  more  letter  which  followed  from  Wash- 
inofton  was  filled  with  a  sort  of  chronicle  of  the 
days  between  31st  May  and  5th  June.  He  had 
at  last  got  to  work,  though  it  was  while  waiting 
for  Lord  Elgin  to  give  him  something  to  do  that 
he  took  the  opportunity  of  writing  his  letter. 

"  I  was  occupied  the  greater  part  of  yesterday 
in  writing  officially.  I  am  afraid  I  make  a  bad 
secretary  :  my  forte  does  not  lie  in  business  mat- 


124  AMERICA    AND    CANADA. 

ters.  In  fact,  I  should  be  the  head  of  the  dejDart- 
ment,  not  the  clerk.  It  is  so  fearfully  hot  and 
relaxing  that  one  is  not  disposed  for  hard  work. 
I  have  not  much  new  to  tell.  We  dine  out  as 
usual,  and  the  dinners  last  three  hours  as  usual, 
and  I  generally  get  between  two  senators,  one  of 
whom  pours  abolitionism  in  my  ear,  the  other, 
the  divine  origin  of  slavery.  The  politics  of  this 
country  are  most  complicated,  and  difficult  to 
understand ;  there  are  so  many  different  parties, 
rejoicing  in  so  many  different  names.  There  are 
the  Whigs,  and  Democrats,  and  Filibusters,  and 
Hard  Shells,  and  Soft  Shells,  and  Free-Soilers,  and 
Disunionists,  and  Federalists, — all  of  whom  expect 
you  to  understand  at  once  their  distinctive  char- 
acteristics. I  have  not  time  to  'post  myself  up 
in  all  these  matters,  nor  to  see  sights — in  fact, 
America  would  be  a  great  deal  more  difficult  to 
write  about  than  Kussia,  its  constitution  being  so 
much  more  complicated,  and  its  joractical  working 
so  very  different  from  its  theory." 

This  conclusion,  however,  does  not  hinder  him 
from  indicating  his  opinion  on  various  points  : 
as,  for  instance,  that  whereas  the  President  should 
be  one  of  the  first  men  in  the  country,  he  was 
in  fact,  as  a  rule,  a  mere  cipher  in  point  of  in- 
tellect ;  and  that  bribery  and  corruption  prevailed 


LORD  Elgin's  method.  125 

as  universally  as  in  Russia,  though  in  a  different 
way.  Many  American  writers,  in  days  since 
Laurence's  letters  were  written,  have  pointed 
out  this  tendency  and  opening  to  corruption  as 
the  great  inherent  fault  in  their  constitution.  To 
investigate  such  a  serious  question,  however,  so 
as  to  find  out  its  real  cause,  required  more  time 
than  Laurence  could  give  to  it,  as  "  now  that 
Colonel  Bruce,  and  Sir  Cusack  and  Lady  Eoney 
have  gone,  and  Hamilton  is  laid  up  in  New 
York,"  he  remained  the  only  companion  of  Lord 
Elgin,  and  could  go  nowhere  on  his  own  account ; 
so  that  he  would  seem  to  have  given  up  the  idea 
of  writinof  a  book. 

"  There  is  a  great  deal  of  self-denial  involved 
with  the  conscientious  discharge  of  my  duties, 
and  I  am  obliged  to  decline  invitations  to  riding- 
parties,  &c.,  &c.,  and  take  a  sober  stroll  instead — 
all  very  good  discipline,  no  doubt.  It  is  a  very 
great  advantage  to  me,  being  behind  the  scenes 
in  a  matter  of  this  kind,  and  seeing  how  an  able 
man  like  Lord  E.  manages  affairs.  I  compare 
him  with  papa.  They  have  a  good  many  points 
of  similarity  in  their  way  of  venting  their  indig- 
nation and  fuming,  and  yet  never  acting  im- 
pulsively. I  occasionally  take  a  look  in  upon 
Bury,    who    is    living    in    another    hotel :    it    is 


126  AMERICA    AND    CANADA. 

jDleasant  to  look  upon  a  kent  face.  I  think  It 
very  possible  that,  now  that  Colonel  Bruce  has 
left  Canada,  I  may  act  as  Lord  Elgin's  private 
secretary  there.  However,  that  is  only  a  suppo- 
sition on  my  part :  nothing  has  been  said  to  me 
about  it,  so  don't  mention  it ;  of  course  I  should 
be  glad  to  be  employed  in  any  way.  ...  I  am 
keeping  all  the  accounts,  and  I  think  there  must 
be  a  mistake  somewhere,  as  I  have  expended  and 
received  some  hundreds  of  dollars,  and  they  come 
right  exactly,  which  is  most  strange  and  un- 
expected. 

"  The  other  night  I  was  dining  out  with  rather 
a  singular  houseful  of  people  :  the  master  of  the 
house  was  a  senator,  a  methodist  preacher,  and  a 
teetotaller  ;  consequently,  although  it  was  a  party 
of  twenty  people,  we  had  nothing  to  drink  but  iced 
water.  His  wife,  who  unfortunately  was  not  there, 
is  a  spirit  medium,  and  in  constant  communication 
with  the  nether,  though  she  calls  it  the  upper,  world. 
Her  daughter,  who  sat  next  me  at  dinner,  is  a 
Bloomer,  and  never  wears  any  other  costume  ;  she 
has  an  ugly  sham1:)ling  figure,  and  cuts  the  most 
absurd  appearance  :  her  husband  is  an  avowed  and 
rampant  infidel,  so  that  altogether  it  was  a  very 
odd  if  not  instructive  assemblage.  I  don't  know 
how  they  all  manage  to  get  on  together.  For  the 
preacher  must  look  upon  his  son-in-law  as  a  viper, 


PEOPLE    HE    MEETS.  127 

and  the  son-in-law  must  look  upon  his  mother  as 
an  impostor,  and  they  must  all  look  upon  his  wife 
as  a  fool — while  she  takes  very  good  care  to  show 
the  world  that  she  wears  the  breeches." 

Many  other  amusing  notes  follow  as  to  the 
people  he  meets.  On  one  occasion  the  gentleman 
sittinof  next  him  volunteered  the  information  that 
he  (the  speaker)  was  a  singular  man,  and  related 
his  history  ;  how,  left  without  a  farthing  at  seven 
years  old,  he  managed  to  pay  for  his  own  educa- 
tion out  of  his  earnings,  qualified  as  a  barrister 
at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  being  then  the  proud 
owner  of  just  2  dollars  50  cents  in  the  world,  and 
owing  500  dollars ;  how,  being  not  yet  thirty,  he 
had  already  lost  wife  and  child,  and  was  looking 
out  for  another  bride  to  go  with  him  on  a  journey 
to  Europe,  to  study  the  politics  of  other  countries 
before  he  came  back  to  embark  upon  a  political 
career  in  his  own.  On  the  morning  of  the  day 
on  which  Laurence  wrote,  his  companions  were 
of  a  still  more  remarkable  kind. 

"  On  one  side  of  me  was  the  governor  of  the 
new  Territory  of  Washington,  which  lies  to  the 
north  of  Oregon,  upon  the  North  Pacific,  and  is 
seventy  days'  journey  from  this  place  :  on  the 
other  side  was  a  senator  from  Florida,  who  gave 


128  AMERICA    AND    CANADA. 

me  some  curious  information  about  those  parts. 
Then  I  made  great  friends  with  the  celebrated 
Colonel  Fremont,  who  is  a  splendid  fellow,  and  has 
been  more  nearly  starved  to  death,  and  more  often 
in  that  predicament,  '  than  any  other  man  in 
creation,  don't  care  where  you  look  for  him.' 
Then  there  was  Colonel  Benton,  who  is  writing  a 
great  work,  and  is  '  quite  a  fine  man ' ;  and  Mr 
Senator  Toombs,  who  is  to  be  president  some  of 
these  days  ;  and  the  governor  of  Wisconsin,  whose 
government  has  increased  in  population,  within 
ten  years,  from  30,000  to  500,000,  and  who  met 
a  man  the  other  day  who  had  travelled  over  the 
whole  globe,  and  examined  it  narrowly  with  an 
eye  to  agricultural  capabilities,  and  who  there- 
fore was  an  authority  not  to  be  disputed ;  and 
this  man  said  that  he  had  never,  in  any  country, 
seen  fifty  square  miles  to  equal  that  extent  in  the 
State  of  Wisconsin,  and  therefore  it  was  quite 
clear  that  the  spot  was  not  contained  in  creation. 
As  other  provincials  have  informed  me  that  their 
respective  States  are  each  thus  singularly  gifted, 
I  am  beginning  to  get  puzzled  as  to  which  really 
is  indisputably  the  most  fertile  spot  on  the  face 
of  the  habitable  oflobe, 

"  I  have  every  hope  that  we  shall  polish  off  our 
treaty  to-morrow,  in  which  case  we  shall  retire 
in    the    evening,    covered   with    glory.     It    is    a 


SUCCESS    OF    THE   NEGOTIATIONS.  129 

most  exciting  operation,  and  for  the  last  few 
days,  as  matters  have  approached  a  crisis,  I 
have  been  at  it  from  morning  till  night,  and 
then  dreaming:  about  it.  The  alternation  of 
hope  and  fear  is  most  trying,  as  new  difficulties 
are  suggested,  and  methods  of  solving  them  pro- 
posed, and  new  concessions  gained,  and  the  old 
Secretary  of  State  bamboozled.  Hincks  goes 
away  to-day,  and  Lord  Elgin  and  I  will  be  left 
alone.  There  are  so  many  fellows  opposed  to  the 
treaty,  and  so  much  underworking,  that  it  re- 
quires considerable  'cuteness  and  caution  to  man- 
age matters ;  but  Lord  Elgin  is  a  match  for  them, 
and  it  is  a  pleasure  to  see  how^  he  works  the  matter. 
It  would  be  of  advantage  to  a  fool,  and  of  course 
it  is  invaluable  to  a  clever  cove  like  me,  who  is 
given  to  appropriating  other  men's  dodges." 

While  all  this  serious  and  exciting  business  was 
proceeding,  the  dinners  and  matinees  dansantes 
seem  also  to  have  gone  on  as  continuously  as 
ever,  and  "  the  soft  balmy  evenings  in  pretty 
gardens,  with  fruits  and  ices,  and  '  quite  a  clever 
piece '  for  a  companion,  are  enjoyable  enough." 
The  next  letter  is  dated  the  7th  of  June,  the 
last  having  ended  on  the  5th,  and  was  written  at 
New  York,  where  he  had  arrived  after  the  suc- 
cessful issue  of  the  negotiations  at  Washington. 

VOL.    I.  I 


130  AMERICA   AND    CANADA. 

"  We  are  tremendously  triumphant  ;  we  have 
signed  a  stunning  treaty.     When  I  say  we,  it  was 
in  the  dead  of  night,  in  the  last  five  minutes  of 
the  5th  of  June,  and  the  first  five  minutes  of  the 
6th  day  of  the  month  aforesaid,  that  in  a  spacious 
chamber,  by  the  brilliant  light  of  six  wax-candles 
and  an  argand,  four  individuals  might  have  been 
observed    seated,   their  faces  expressive  of  deep 
and  earnest  thought,  not  unmixed  with  cunning. 
Their   feelings,   however,   to    the    acute  observer 
manifested    themselves    in    different    ways  ;    and 
this   was  but  natural,   as   two   were   young  and 
two  aged, — one,  indeed,  far  gone   in  years,   the 
other  prematurely  so.     He  it  is  whose  measured 
tones  alone  break  the  solemn  silence  of  midnight, 
except  when  one   of  the   younger   auditors,  who 
are    intently  poring   over  voluminous  MSS.,  in- 
terrupts him  to  interpolate  '  and '  or  scratch  out 
'  the.'     They  are,  in  fact,  checking  him  ;  and  the 
ao-ed  man  listens  while  he  picks  his  teeth  with 
a  pair  of  scissors,  or  clears  out  the  wick  of  the 
candle  with  their  points  and  wipes  them  on  his 
hair.     He  may  occasionally  be  observed  to  wink, 
either   from   conscious    'cuteness    or    unconscious 
drowsiness.     Attached  to   these    three   MSS.   by 
red     ribbon    are    the    heavy    seals.       Presently 
the  clock  strikes  twelve,  and   there   is  a  doubt 
whether  to  date  it  to-day  or  yesterday.     For  a 


"the  venerable  file."  131 

moment  there  is  a  solemn  silence,  and  he  who 
was  reading  takes  the  pen,  which  has  previously 
been  impressively  dipped  in  the  ink  by  the  most 
intelligent  of  the  young  men,  who  appears  to  be 
his  secretary,  and  who  keeps  his  eye  warily  upon 
the  other  young  man,  who  is  the  opposition  sec- 
retary, and  interesting  as  a  specimen  of  a  Yankee 
in  that  capacity.  There  is  something  strangely 
mysterious  in  the  scratching,  of  that  midnight 
pen,  for  it  is  scratching  away  the  destinies  of 
nations  ;  and  then  it  is  placed  in  the  hands  of 
the  venerable  file,  whose  hand  does  not  shake, 
though  he  is  very  old,  and  knows  he  will  be 
bullied  to  death  by  half  the  members  of  Con- 
gress. The  hand  that  has  used  a  revolver  upon 
previous  similar  occasions  does  not  waver  with 
a  pen,  though  the  lines  he  traces  may  be  an 
involver  of  a  revolver  again.  He  is  now  the 
Secretary  of  State  ;  before  that,  he  was  a  judge 
of  the  Supreme  Court ;  before  that,  a  general  in 
the  army  ;  before  that,  governor  of  a  State  ;  before 
that.  Secretary  at  War ;  before  that,  minister  in 
Mexico  ;  before  that,  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  ;  before  that,  an  adventurer  ;  be- 
fore that,  a  cabinet-maker.  So  why  should  the 
old  man  fear  ?  Has  he  not  survived  the  changes 
and  chances  of  more  diiferent  sorts  of  lives  than 
any  other  man  ?  and  is  he  afraid  of  being  done 


132  AMERICA    AND    CANADA. 

by  an  English  lord  ?  So  he  gives  us  his  blessing, 
and  we  leave  the  old  man  and  his  secretary  with 
our  treaty  in  our  pockets." 

This  letter  was  finished  at  Boston  in  the  middle 
of  the  continued  journey.  Laurence  had  been 
sent  on  at  once  to  New  York,  where  he  was  kept 
awake  all  night  by  a  demonstration  in  favour  of 
a  senator  in  the  same  hotel,  so  that  the  vigil  con- 
sequent upon  the  completion  of  the  treaty  was  not 
his  only  one.  After  this  he  travelled  on  "  through 
lovely  country,  wooded  and  watered  and  smiling, 
up  glens  in  the  railway,  which  in  these  countries 
prefers  going  up  and  down  hill  to  going  through 
tunnels,  and  going  past  lakes  embedded  in  foli- 
age, with  pretty  villages  of  white  wooden  houses 
inhabited  by  prim  descendants  of  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers — and  so  on  to  this  city,  more  like  an  Eng- 
lish commercial  emporium  than  any  other  in  the 
States  ;  and  to-morrow  we  undergo  a  grand  tri- 
umphal reception  at  Portland,  and  next  day 
another  at  Montreal,  and  next  day  another  at 
Quebec,  all  which  I  hope  to  find  time  to  tell  you 
of  in  my  next.  Meanwhile  Lord  Elgin  is  re- 
joicing in  the  prospect  of  about  six  speeches 
a-day,  and  I  in  hopes  of  amusing  myself,  which, 
indeed,  I  have  been  doing  very  fairly  all  along. 
We  have  got  Sir  Cu.   and  Lady  Roney,  and  in 


RECEPTION    IN    CANADA.  133 

addition  to  them  a  Sir  Henry  and  Lady  Caldwell, 
in  our  party." 

The  details  of  description  which  he  continues 
to  give  as  he  passes  along  may  be  less  interesting 
to  the  sophisticated  reader,  who  since  then  has 
heard  so  much  of  America  ;  but  they  are  at  least 
brief  and  graphic.  Portland,  where  the  party 
"  arrived  under  a  salute,  and  went  in  procession 
to  the  house  of  one  of  the  leading  citizens," 
Laurence  described  as  "  lovely."  "  The  situation 
of  Portland  is  very  striking,  on  a  high  promon- 
tory which  overlooks  an  immense  bay,  on  which 
upwards  of  three  hundred  islands  are  dotted ; 
while  towards  the  interior  a  richly  wooded  and 
fertile  country  stretches  aw^ay  to  the  base  of  the 
White  Mountains,  6000  feet  high.  The  town  is 
well  laid  out — every  street  an  avenue  of  noble 
trees,  and  the  houses  substantially  built.  It  is 
destined  before  long  to  rival  Boston,  and  will 
form  the  main  outlet  for  Canadian  produce.  This 
treaty  will  be  the  making  of  it ;  and  the  in- 
habitants no  doubt  felt  that  they  could  not 
sufficiently  honour  the  man  who  had  done  more 
for  their  town  than  anybody  else." 

The  festivities  here  consisted  chiefly  of  a  great 
banquet,  at  which  "  Lord  Elgin  delighted  them 
with  his  happy  speeches  "  ;  and  "  I  distinguished 
myself  in  responding  to  a  '  sentiment '  of  a  liter- 


134  AMERICA    AND    CANADA. 

ary  character  with  which  my  name  was  coupled." 
The  entrance  of  the  Mission  into  Canada  after 
this  partook  of  the  character  of  a  royal  progress, 
with  triumphal  arches,  cheering  crowds,  and  wel- 
coming speeches  at  all  the  stations.  But  at 
Montreal,  "where  the  population  is  somewhat 
uncertain  in  its  loyalty,"  their  reception  was  by 
no  means  so  demonstrative — although  the  people 
"  behaved  very  decently "  on  the  whole.  From 
Montreal  a  special  steamer  carried  the  party  on  to 
Spencer  Wood,  the  viceregal  residence,  of  which 
Laurence  gives  an  enthusiastic  description.  He 
writes  on  the  verandah  into  which  his  rooms 
open,  "  enjoying  a  Mediterranean  air  and  more 
than  a  Mediterranean  view  "  : — 

"  Spexcer  "Wood,  June  14,  1854. 

"  From  the  verandah  extends  a  lawn  studded 
with  noble  trees  to  the  edge  of  a  steep  wooded 
bank,  and  among  the  trees  rise  the  tapering 
masts  of  ships,  which  look  as  if  they  were 
eccentric  branches.  They  are  lying  in  the  St 
Lawrence,  two  miles  broad,  and  filled  with  craft 
of  all  sizes.  It  is  at  once  peaceful  and  busy, 
and  I  prefer  it  to  the  sea,  as  in  an  epicurean 
point  of  view  it  is  disturbing  to  see  anything 
like  commotion  ;  but  quiet  life  is  perfect.  The 
opposite  bank  of  the  St  Lawrence  is  precipitous 


QUEBEC.  135 

and  well  wooded,  with  villages  at   the  base,  or 
climbing  up   valleys  or  perched  upon  the  edge, 
and  churches  prominent  and  picturesque.     When 
I  am  tired  of  looking  at  the  point  of  view  over 
this    lovely  scene  which    my  window   affords,   I 
stroll  down  a  broad  long  avenue  of  magnificent 
trees  ;  and  then,  turning  through  a  thick  copse 
by  a  winding  path,  I  come  upon  a  little  wooded 
gorge,  down  which  a  noisy  brook  tumbles;  and 
I  follow  that  till  it  gets  too  impetuous  for  my 
sentimental   system,  or  for  the  proper  construc- 
tion of  the  path,  which  there  comes  out  abruptly 
upon  the  edge   of  a  precipice  where  a  summer- 
house   is  perched,   from  which   you   can  look  up 
and  down  the  river  for  miles.     In  one  direction 
the  swelling  banks,  of  the  most  brilliant  green, 
are   dotted   with   houses,   for   the   whole  country 
is  thickly  inhabited  ;   on  the  other,  a  lofty  pro- 
montory   is    crowned    with    the    fortifications    of 
Quebec,    standing   out    into    the    river   as    if    to 
guard  the  beauties  that  are  beyond.      The   bay 
formed  by  the  promontory  on  which  I  am,  and 
that    on    which    the    Fort    stands,   is  filled  with 
wood.     It  is  at  once  an  island  of  planks  and  a 
forest    of  masts ;    and   as  I  lie  listening  to  the 
sound  of  the  busy  world,  the  songs  of  the  sailors 
and  the  clang  of  hammers,  the  laughter  of  chil- 
dren and  the  rushing  of  the  stream,  I  can  enjoy 


136  AMERICA    AND    CANADA. 

hief  to  perfection ;  and  I  am  afraid  I  have 
insensibly  wasted  some  valuable  time  in  allow- 
ing  my  senses  to  have  the  benefit  of  all  these 
charms.  Lord  Elgin  thinks  I  am  the  most 
romantic  of  authors,  whereas  I  am  rather  sur- 
prised to  find  that  I  can  now  enjoy  what  I 
never  before  really  appreciated,  and  I  rejoice  in 
the  discovery  of  a  new  faculty  of  enjoyment  and 
a  fitting  place  to  exercise  it  in.  To  be  sure,  I 
have  had  more  to  think  about  within  the  last 
few  days  than  I  ever  had  at  any  former  period 
of  my  life — or  at  any  rate,  I  have  thought  ex- 
ternal circumstances  worthy  of  more  considera- 
tion than  I  am  in  the  habit  of  doinsf.  With 
one's  sense  of  resjjonsibility  grows  also  the  im- 
portant reflection  of  its  proper  exercise,  and  I 
look  upon  moments  of  quiet  as  more  necessary 
to  fortify  one  to  join  in  the  racket  of  life,  just 
in  proportion  as  that  racket  is  universal  and 
becomes  more  distracting:.  I  therefore  recomiise 
in  the  charms  of  Spencer  Wood  and  the  valley 
of  the  St  Lawrence  a  legitimate  source  of  com- 
fort and  support,  intended  for  my  benefit  just 
when  I  most  need  it." 

These  somewhat  solemn  reflections,  by  which 
the  young  man  excuses  his  love  of  loitering  in 
a  beautiful  scene,  are  amusing  enough  ;  but  the 


NEW    APPOINTMENT.  137 

intimation  at  the  end  of  his  letter  of  the  new 
position  in  which  he  suddenly  found  himself  was 
enough  to  warrant  the  solemnity. 

"  My  book  has  obtained  for  me  all  through  our 
tour  considerable  notoriety,  and  I  was  immensely 
made  of  by  the  citizens  of  Portland  and  else- 
where. Here,  too,  where  novelties  are  rare,  I  am 
an  object  of  some  curiosity,  and  am  in  consequence 
rather  nervous  at  the  prominence  of  my  position 
— and  which  was  so  totally  unexpected.  I  think 
I  had  just  heard  of  it  as  I  closed  my  last  letter 
to  you.  Know,  then,  that  I  am  now  Superin- 
tendent -  General  of  Indian  Affairs,  having  suc- 
ceeded Colonel  Bruce  in  that  office,  and  having 
as  my  subordinates  two  colonels,  two  captains 
(all  of  militia),  and  some  English  gentlemen  who 
have  been  long  in  the  service,  and  who  must  look 
rather  suspiciously  at  the  '  Oriental  Traveller's  ' 
interposition.  However,  I  hope  to  get  on  pretty 
well,  notwithstanding  I  already  contemplate  row- 
ing one  of  the  colonels  and  turning  him  out  if  he 
is  not  more  attentive  to  his  duties." 

The  appointment  of  so  young  a  man,  not  even 
a  member  of  the  Civil  Service,  and  entirely  new 
to  Canada  and  its  needs,  was  evidently  by  no 
means  a  popular  one,  if  we  may  trust  the  cut- 


138  AMERICA    AND    CANADA. 

tings  from  Canadian  papers  which  accompany 
these  letters  ;  and  caused  great  talk  of  favourit- 
ism, and  the  sacrifice  of  the  public  service  to 
private  motives.  He  himself,  however,  was  full 
of  great  intentions  on  the  subject,  and  a  deter- 
mination to  do  his  duty.  He  writes  in  a  sub- 
sequent letter  that  he  has  not  been  fully  em- 
ployed, and  is  disgusted  by  the  waste  of  time. 

"  Spencer  "Wood,  J%dy  7. 

"  However,  it  is  not  altogether  lost,  for  I  have 
been  revolving  great  projects  in  my  brain.  One 
is  to  remodel  to  a  great  extent  the  Indian  De- 
partment, and  the  whole  system  upon  which  the 
Indian  tribes  are  at  present  managed.  However, 
it  must  be  done  w^ith  caution  and  well  matured,  as 
I  suspect  the  Government  will  not  readily  assent 
to  my  view^s,  which  are  a  little  arbitrary  and  des- 
potic. Then  I  am  going  to  compile  information 
for  a  book  which  I  have  been  planning.  It  is  to 
be  a  sort  of  treatise  on  constitutional  government, 
contrasting  this  country  with  the  United  States, 
showinof  the  abuses  of  the  latter  and  the  advan- 
tages  of  responsible  government.  I  have  got 
such  great  advantages  here  in  the  way  of  mate- 
rial, that  I  do  not  like  to  let  the  opportunity  slip. 
At  the  same  time,  it  is  such  a  tremendous  under- 
taking, and  I  commence  it  in  a  condition  of  such 


LITERARY    PLANS.  139 

abject  ignorance,  that  I  have  not  as  yet  plucked 
up  courage  to  face  it.  Moreover,  it  is  a  nervous 
operation  to  risk  one's  recantation  upon  so  grand 
a  theme.  However,  success  will  be  all  the  more 
glorious,  and  I  shall  not  be  in  a  hurry,  but  digest 
and  compile  slowly  ;  and  then,  when  the  great 
crash  comes  in  the  States  which  is  inevitable,  I 
will  try  and  turn  out  a  few  notions  on  the  crisis 
at  the  nick  of  time.  If  the  crisis  does  not  come, 
I  shall  put  my  information  into  an  anonymous 
form,  rather  than  publish  anything  with  my 
name  that  is  not  paramountly  interesting.  If 
Aunt  M.  and  others  wish  to  know  whether  my 
appointment  is  permanent,  pray  say  that  I  am 
most  thankful  it  is  not.  Nothing  can  be  a 
greater  curse  to  a  young  man  wishing  to  get 
on  than  a  permanent  appointment.  It  is  cer- 
tainly not  the  quickest  way  to  get  up  a  ladder 
to  establish  one's  self  on  the  lowest  step." 

And  here  is  a  piece  of  precocious  youthful  wis- 
dom, perhaps  not  quite  so  wise  as  that  above 
quoted.  It  is  given  with  the  absolute  certainty 
which  members  of  the  human  race  possess  at 
twenty-five.  "  No  man  who  has  been  the  editor 
of  a  Government  paper  for  twenty  years  can 
retain  his  honesty.  You  see  how  the  'Times' 
has  been  obliged  to  go  into  opposition  :  they  were 


140  AMERICA    AND    CANADA. 

losing  their  influence  fast.  Nothing  is  more  es- 
tabhshed  than  the  fact  that  the  newspaper  which 
exerts  the  greatest  influence  in  a  country  must 
be  in  opposition.  It  is  also  sure  of  a  larger  cir- 
culation, because  Government  supporters  are  ob- 
liged to  take  it  to  see  what  is  said,  and  the 
opponents  take  it  because  they  agree  with  it. 

"  I  confess,"  adds  the  young  man,  going  back 
to  questions  less  abstract,  "  that  I  am  rather  fas- 
cinated with  the  new  world.  There  is  such 
scope  for  great  political  chances  and  changes. 
Now  that  we  have  got  reciprocity,  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  Canada  is  best  ofi*  as  she  is,  in  spite 
of  all  the  nonsense  that  ass  Ellenborough  talked. 
It  is  a  great  comfort  to  feel  that  if  the  old  world 
does  not  pay  we  can  fall  back  upon  the  new. 
There  is  plenty  of  room,  and  great  facilities  for 
becominof  rich." 

Another  letter,  however,  from  the  paradise  of 
Spencer  Wood,  where  his  mind  w^as  full  of  so 
many  projects,  both  practical  and  visionary,  is 
of  a  very  diflerent  tone.  It  is  like  the  opening 
of  a  door  in  the  secret  chamber  of  the  young 
man's  heart  and  thoughts,  at  which  his  mother 
was  continually  knocking,  anxious  above  all 
things  to  know  how  his  mind  stood  in  respect 
to  the  momentous  matters  of  religion,  in  which, 
from  his  earliest  childhood,  she  had  desired  con- 


RELIGIOUS    THOUGHTS.  141 

tinual  confidences.  I  do  not  know  what  Lady 
Oliph ant's  distinctive  views  were  at  this  time. 
They  were,  perhaps,  a  httle  open  to  the  influence 
of  the  prevaihng  preacher  who  interested  and 
instructed  her ;  but  they  were  always  full  of 
profound  and  emotional  piety,  and  her  strongest 
desire  was  that  her  son  should  be  like  herself, 
placing  sacred  subjects  in  absolute  pre-eminence 
both  in  his  thoughts  and  life — and  that  he  should 
tell  her  so.  He  writes  on  a  Sunday  morning, 
when  "kept   back  by  a  wet  day  from  going  to 

church." 

"  Spencer  Wood,  July  9. 

"  Just  now,  however,  the  sun  has  burst  forth 
from  behind  the  clouds,  and  makes  nature  here 
look  more  lovely  than  ever.  While  enjoying  it 
just  now,  I  was  struck  with  the  congenial  senti- 
ments expressed  in  the  Psalm  to  which  I  was  re- 
ferred in  Bogatsky,  the  143d  :  they  seemed  ex- 
actly to  exjDlain  my  feelings.  The  more  sensible 
one  is  of  the  magnificence  of  the  works  of  crea- 
tion, the  more  incompetent  one  feels  to  live 
worthily  of  the  author  of  them,  and  a  sort  of 
feeling  of  desolation  is  induced,  which  David 
evidently  sympathised  with.  There  is  a  hope- 
less lonffina"  to  be  assimilated  to  the  Creator,  no 
doubt  increasing  in  intensity  in  proportion  as  one 
appreciates  His  works ;  and  in  spite  of  any  com- 


142  AMERICA   AND    CANADA. 

binations  of  external  circumstances  which,  so  far 
as  the  world  is  concerned,  seem  enough  to  make 
one  perfectly  happy  and  contented,  the  very  fact 
of  one's  being  capable  of  a  certain  degree  of  en- 
joyment makes  one  desire  a  still  higher  order. 
Of  nothing  am  I  more  certain  than  of  the  incom- 
petency of  any  earthly  gratification  affording  hap- 
piness just  on  the  same  principle  :  it  is  always 
accompanied  with  an  indefinable  longing  for 
something  more,  just  as  when  one  contemplates 
nature  and  enjoys  it  most  keenly,  the  soul  begins 
to  thirst  after  God  as  a  thirsty  land,  and  '  the 
heart  within  is  desolate.'  David  evidently 
looked  upon  nature  as  an  appointed  means  of 
elevating  the  soul.  So  many  of  his  aspirations 
have  their  origin  in  this  ;  and  in  admiring  God's 
works  nothinof  can  be  more  natural  than  an 
ardent  desire  to  be  imbued  as  largely  as  possible 
w^ith  the  same  spirit  that  breathes  in  them. 
'Thy  spirit  is  good.'  As  I  think  I  said  in  a 
letter  some  time  ago,  w^e  do  not  half  appreciate 
the  influence  of  the  Spirit.  I  am  perhaps  inclined 
to  give  it  too  prominent  a  place,  my  natural  in- 
clination being  to  overlook  the  Second  Person  as 
the  only  recognised  means  of  obtaining  the  Third. 
But  that  is  just  where  my  faith  is  most  severely 
tried.  Everything  around  me  testifies  to  the 
existence  of  a   Being  who  is  all-pervading ;    but 


THE   THIRD    PERSON    OF    THE    TRINITY.  14 


o 


the  Son  is  nowhere  visible,  and  does  not,  so  to 
speak,  force  Himself  upon  the  senses.  It  is  a 
totally  different  act  of  the  mind  which  is  required 
to  accept  Him  as  a  positive  fact.  To  speak  in 
old  Erskine's  phraseology,  the  subjective  Tally  is 
wanting,  which,  in  the  Deity  and  His  Spirit,  as 
manifested  in  nature,  is  so  readily  found.  How- 
ever, I  have  rather  wandered  from  the  original 
idea,  which  presented  itself  forcibly  on  reading 
the  Psalm ;  and  it  is  worthy  of  observation  that 
David  had  not  only  the  subjective  as  regards  God 
in  nature  but  in  Christ,  and  that  by  an  act  of 
faith  infinitely  more  difficult  than  ours,  as  it  was 
prospective.  This  want  on  my  part  is  therefore 
the  result,  doubtless,  of  a  small  measure  of  the 
Spirit,  and  I  have  the  most  perfect  confidence 
that  if  I  earnestly  desire  to  be  taught  and  con- 
firmed on  this  point,  the-  Spirit  will  eftectually 
operate.  At  present,  with  the  small  measure  I 
as  yet  possess,  and  the  pertinacity  with  which  I 
grieve  and  offend  it  in  spite  of  its  remonstrances, 
I  can  scarcely  expect  to  make  any  rapid  progress  ; 
but  I  think  you  will  understand  from  what  I  have 
said  how  the  143d  Psalm  should  chime  in  with  my 
feelings,  and  be  comfortino-  in  showincr  how  a  man 
of  David's  spirituality  was  occasionally  led  to 
lament  over  his  own  weakness  while  meditating 
on  God's  works.     You  used  to  say  that  the  more 


144  AMERICA    AND    CANADA. 

I  was  favoured  by  external  circumstances,  the 
more  I  grumble  and  am  discontented  with  myself. 
I  think  even  after  David  was  a  king  he  was  occa- 
sionally affected  in  like  manner,  and  were  it  not 
so,  one  would  be  disposed  to  think  that  one  was 
deserted  altogether,  and  left  to  one's  own  evil 
devices." 

While  thus,  however,  opening  his  heart  to  his 
mother  in  the  way  she  most  eagerly  desired,  he 
was  very  anxious  not  to  give  her  too  high  an  idea 
of  his  spiritual  progi^ess,  or  represent  himself  as 
better  than  he  felt  himself  to  be ;  and  in  the  end 
of  the  same  letter,  continued  some  days  later,  he 
protests  against  her  too  delighted  reception  of 
such  spiritual  confidences. 

"  I  think  you  overrate  my  progress,  and  give 
way  to  your  natural  impulses  too  much  in  the  ex- 
pression of  such  ardent  rejoicings.  I  only  hope 
they  will  not  be  turned  into  mourning.  I  am  of 
course  very  glad  of  anything  that  reconciles  you 
to  our  separation ;  but  at  the  same  time  feel  my 
own  weakness  too  much  to  desire  that  you  should 
repose  too  much  confidence  in  my  resolutions,  or 
anticipate  too  great  results  from  what  I  wrote. 
This  is  just  one  of  the  reasons  which  make  me 
hesitate  about  expressing  so  very  much.    It  would 


AN    UNGRATEFUL    LECTURE.  145 

be  far  better  for  you  not  to  form  extravagant 
expectations,  than  having  formed  them  to  be 
disappointed.  However,  I  do  not  mean  that  you 
should  not  be  grateful  with  all  humility,  or  that 
it  is  not  natural,  if  you  feel  comforted  during 
my  absence,  that  you  should  say  so ;  only  you 
must  remember  that  the  effects  of  it  might  be 
to  produce  a  spirit  of  self-satisfaction  in  me,  or 
a  desire  to  write  more  of  the  same  comfortable 
doctrine  w^ien  I  don't  feel  it,  with  many  other 
bad  effects — to  say  nothing  of  the  dreadful  reac- 
tion which  is  always  possible,  and  which  is  indeed 
inevitable  when  any  one  emotion  is  allowed  an 
undue  influence.  There  is  a  most  uno-rateful 
lecture  to  return  to  such  an  affecting  outpouring 
as  few  sons,  I  am  sure,  ever  received ;  but  how- 
ever agreeable  it  may  have  been  at  the  time, 
the  danger  of  going  to  extremes  in  these  matters 
struck  me  too  forcibly  not  to  make  me  feel  war- 
ranted in  telling  you,  as  you  always  ask  me  to 
do  so." 

The  important  post  to  which  he  had  been  ap- 
pointed, and  which  carried  him  into  untrodden 
ways,  and  put  the  affairs  of  the  Canadian  Red 
men  into  his  youthful  keeping,  with  no  experience, 
and  only  his  native  intelligence,  shrewdness,  and 
keen  perception  of  human  character  to  guide  him, 

VOL.    I.  K 


146  AMERICA    AND    CANADA. 

gave  him  material  for  an  interesting  and  amusing 
book,  '  Minnesota  and  the  Far  West,'  jDubhshed 
immediately  after  his  return,  and  for  some  further 
recollections  published  in  the  '  Episodes  in  a  Life 
of  Adventure,'  which  make  it  unnecessary  to 
enter  largely  into  them  here.  In  the  carrying 
out  of  this  work,  he  had  to  travel  far  into  the 
depths  of  the  country,  and  to  meet  with  many 
novel  experiences.  "  This  duty,"  he  says,  "  was 
eminently  to  my  taste.  It  involved  diving  into 
the  depths  of  the  backwoods,  bark  -  canoeing  on 
distant  and  silent  lakes  or  down  foaming  rivers, 
where  the  fishing  was  splendid,  the  scenery  most 
romantic,  and  camp -life  at  this  season  of  the 
year,  for  it  was  the  height  of  summer,  most  en- 
joyable." It  was  a  prolonged  picnic,  with  just 
enough  duty  thrown  in  to  deprive  it  of  any  char- 
acter of  selfishness.  At  nearly  all  the  stations 
there  was  a  school  or  mission-house  of  some  kind, 
and  here  the  meeting  of  the  warriors  and  young 
braves  with  their  "  father  "  (himself)  took  place, 
— "  and  as  I  had  barely  attained  the  age  of 
twenty -five  when  these  paternal  responsibilities 
were  thrust  upon  me,  the  incongruity  of  my  re- 
lation towards  them,  I  am  afraid,  presented  itself 
somewhat  forcibly  to  the  minds  of  the  veterans 
on  these  occasions."  The  most  important  result 
of  his  work  amono-  them  seems  to  have  been,  as 


A    SECOND    TREATY.  147 

in  the  case  of  the  work  in  Washington,  the 
signing  of  a  treaty.  Two  State  negotiations 
more  different  than  that  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States,  and  that  by  which  the 
poor  Indians  gave  up  for  a  substantial  con- 
sideration the  land  previously  allotted  to  them, 
but  which  their  wandering  habits  prevented  them 
from  making  any  proper  use  of,  could  scarcely 
be.  But  the  young  diplomatist  found  interest  in 
both. 

The  latter  part  of  Lord  Elgin's  viceroyalty  was 
full  of  stirring  Colonial  politics,  changes  of  Minis- 
try and  much  political  commotion  ;  and  when  the 
young  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs  returned 
to  Quebec  from  his  voyage  to  the  West,  it  was 
to  resume  the  duties  of  his  Excellency's  private 
secretary  in  troubled  times  —  the  trouble,  how- 
ever, doing-  little  more  than  add  a  zest  to  the 
work,  and  a  little  excitement  to  life.  "  My  posi- 
tion here  is  very  agreeable,"  he  writes ;  "I  have 
pleasant  alternatives  of  excitement  and  tranquill- 
ity, always  plenty  to  occupy  me,  a  climate  which 
agrees  with  me  better  than  any  other  I  ever  was 
in ;  and  in  many  ways  I  think  I  am  gaining  much 
valuable  experience. 

"  I  found  no  less  than  ten  official  letters,  besides 
the  English  mail,  awaiting  me  this  morning.     I 


148  AMERICA   AND    CANADA. 

had  moreover  four  appointments  of  gentlemen 
wanting  interviews,  a  lot  of  incidental  coves  to 
stave  off  from  his  Excellency,  which  I  flatter  my- 
self is  the  part  of  the  business  I  excel  in  most. 
They  always  leave  infinitely  better  pleased  than 
if  they  had  had  their  interview.  My  life  is  much 
like  that  of  a  Cabinet  Minister  or  Parliament- 
ary swell,  now  that  the  House  is  sitting.  I  am 
there  every  night  till  the  small  hours,  taking 
little  relaxations  in  the  shape  of  evening  visits 
when  a  bore  gets  up.  That  keeps  me  in  bed 
till  late,  so  that  breakfast  and  the  drive  in  (from 
Spencer  Wood),  &c.,  detain  me  from  the  office 
till  near  one.  Then  I  get  through  business  for 
the  next  three  hours — chiefly  consisting  of  draft- 
ing letters,  which  in  the  end  I  ought  to  be  a 
dab  at.  I  have  three  bell-ropes  hanging  at  my 
right  hand  communicating  with  my  two  depart- 
ments and  the  messengers.  I  also  append  my 
valuable  signature  to  a  great  deal  without  know- 
ing in  the  least  why,  and  run  out  to  the  most 
notorious  gossips  to  pick  up  the  last  bits  of  news, 
political  or  social,  with  which  to  regale  his  Ex- 
cellency, wdio  duly  rings  for  me  for  that  purpose 
when  he  has  read  his  letters  and  had  his  inter- 
views. Then  he.  walks  out  with  an  A.D.C.,  and 
I  go  to  the  House.  There  I  take  up  my  seat  on 
a   chair  exclusively   my   own  next   the   Speaker, 


THE   DEMUEE    SECRETARY.  149 

and  members  (I  have  made  it  my  business  to 
know  them  nearly  all)  come  and  tell  me  the 
news,  and  I  am  on  chaffing  terms  with  the  Op- 
position, and  on  confidential  with  the  Ministeri- 
alists. If  I  see  pretty  girls  in  the  galleries  who 
are  friends  of  mine  (the  galleries  are  always  full), 
I  go  up  there  and  criticise  members  and  draw 
caricatures  of  them,  which  they  throw  down  into 
members'  laps  neatly  folded,  who  pass  them  to 
the  original, — by  which  time  I  have  regained  my 
seat,  and  the  demure  secretary  remains  pro- 
foundly political  and  unsuspected.  I  find  noth- 
ing so  difficult  as  keeping  up  my  dignity,  and 
when  the  Bishop  or  a  Cabinet  Minister  calls,  I 
take  their  apologies  for  intruding  as  if  I  was 
doing  them  a  favour.  I  am  afraid  of  hazarding 
a  joke  unless  I  am  quite  sure  it  is  a  good  one. 
I  suppose  the  dignity  of  the  office  was  so  well 
sustained  by  Bruce,  that  they  are  scandalised 
by  a  larky  young  cove  like  me." 

More  serious  matters,  however,  mingled  with 
the  fun  with  which  the  gay  young  secretary 
diversified  his  life.  On  the  day  after  a  great 
picnic,  terminating  in  an  impromptu  dance  which 
was  his  suggestion,  and  which  accordingly  he 
devoted  all  his  faculties  to  carry  out  successfully, 
he  describes  himself  as  "fairly  done  up." 


150  AMERICA    AND    CANADA. 

"  The  Ministers  were  determined  to  push 
through  the  answer"  (to  the  Governor's  speech 
from  the  throne),  "in  order  that  by  large  majori- 
ties they  might  influence  the  election  of  the  new 
Ministers  in  Upper  Canada  ;  the  Opposition  were 
determined  to  defeat  that  object :  so  it  was  a 
question  of  who  would  sit  it  out.  The  conse- 
quence was  a  debate  of  twenty-two  hours.  I  had 
dined  out  and  gone  to  an  evening  party,  and 
then  went  to  the  House  and  remained  till  half- 
past  four,  when  Mackenzie  the  quondam  rebel 
got  up  to  make  a  rambling  speech  which  I  hear 
lasted  for  four  hours ;  but  I  left,  and  when  I 
returned  at  one  in  the  afternoon  I  found  the 
House  still  sitting,  so  you  see  Parliament  is  not 
a  mere  sham  in  this  country,  and  its  value  is 
properly  appreciated.  On  Thursday  we  had  a 
succession  of  grand  doings,  beginning  at  twelve, 
accounts  of  which  you  will  see  in  the  papers. 
Lord  Elgin  made  a  magnificent  oration  in  French  : 
it  is  really  a  pleasure  to  be  attached  to  such  a 
man,  so  stunning  in  certain  respects.  It  created 
a  great  sensation.  The  whole  thing  was  novel 
and  exciting :  first  the  reception  by  a  dozen 
purple  episcopates  in  the  Archbishojj's  jDalace, 
and  then  the  opening  of  a  Koman  Catholic 
college  by  his  Excellency.  Your  liberality  would 
not  quite  come   such   a    stretch   as   that.     There 


POLITICS    AND    SOCIETY.  151 

were  some  thousands  of  people  assembled.  Some 
of  the  Protestants  here  are  highly  disgusted,  but 
I  highly  approve.  No  sooner  was  this  proceed- 
ing over  than  we  received  the  dutiful  answer  to 
the  address  from  the  Commons,  which  was  an  echo 
of  the  Governor's  speech,  and  a  great  triumph 
to  him  after  all  the  abuse  that  has  been  lavished 
upon  him.  The  answer  has  been  carried  through 
the  House  by  overwhelming  majorities.  After 
that  we  received  a  quantity  more  of  purple 
ecclesiastics.  All  this  time  I  had  been  in  full 
dress,  white  tie,  &c.  Then  to  the  House  till 
dinner,  when  I  dined  with  Mr  Primrose,  Lord 
Posebery's  brother,  who  afterwards  had  a  ball, 
where  I  remained  till  pretty  late.  Not  the  best 
preparation  in  the  world  for  our  own  ball  at 
Spencer  Wood  to-night ;  but  I  shall  cut  some  of 
that  by  staying  in  the  House  to  see  the  Eecipro- 
city  Treaty  through.  It  was  read  last  night  for 
the  first  time.  However,  the  Governor  says  the 
success  of  the  ball  depends  upon  me.  I  have  in- 
troduced four  new  dances  into  Quebec.  What 
an  enviable  reputation  to  have,  and  how  aston- 
ished my  Edinburgh  friends  would  be  !  and  yet 
I  don't  care  nearly  so  much  for  gaiety  as  I  used 
to  do.  Only  whatever  I  undertake  I  like  to 
carry  out  with  a  will ;  and  if  we  are  to  leave 
Canada  with  a  flare-up  after  eight  years  of  the 


152  AMERICA    AND    CANADA. 

most  successful  administration  that  any  Governor 
ever  had,  I  will  do  my  best." 

"  Society   here    is   really    very   agreeable,"    he 
adds.      "  There   are   no    sets    or  jealousies,    but 
everybody  is  on  excellent  terms  and  very  good- 
natured."     As  usual,  he  was  specially  interested 
in  one  portion  of  society.     I  do  not  know  if  the 
peculiar  institution  hereafter  described  has  found 
a  place  in  any  other  record  :  "  The  girls  are  for 
the  most  part  lively  and  pretty,  with  a  deal  of 
French   in  them,  which  prevents  their  having  a 
taste  for  solid  information,  but  makes  up  for  it  by 
giving  them  plenty  of  small  talk  and  fascinating 
manners.      I  go  upon  the  principle  of  dispensing 
my  favours  so  liberally  that  my  attentions  cannot 
be  said  to  be  particular,  though  that  is  not  at  all 
the  fashion.     Every  girl  has  what  is  called  her 
muffin, — some  devoue,  who  never  leaves  her  side, 
dances  with  her   always  when  he  is   not  sitting 
with  her  in  a  dark  corner,  and  behaves  as  if  he 
were  engaged.      This,  however,  is  not  the  case, 
nor  is  it  expected.      It  is  quite   an  understood 
thing  that  he  is  her  muffin  and  she  his,  not  her 
future  husband,  and  curiously  enough  no  harm 
ever  comes  of  it.     Sometimes  it  ends  in  marriage, 
but  never  in  anything  else." 

There  is  a  great  deal  about  these  young  ladies 


VICISSITUDES    OF    FEELING.  153 

in  the  letters,  especially  as  his  time  draws  towards 
an  end ;  and  he  becomes  full  of  questions  as  to 
his  conduct, — whether  he  has  kept  up  to  his  own 
standard,  whether  it  would  be  possible  for  him  to 
keep  up  to  it  if  he  stayed  longer,  and  how  his 
young  successor,  with  whom  he  has  had  many 
confidences  on  the  subject  of  religion  —  some- 
times feeling  that  his  advices  do  the  young  man 
good,  sometimes  that  his  inconsistencies  do  him 
harm — will  be  able  to  Avithstand  the  many  tempta- 
tions of  society.  For  Quebec  society,  with  that 
delightful  mixture  of  French  ease  and  lightness, 
with  the  charms  and  frankness  of  the  ladies,  the 
good-humour  and  freedom  and  friendliness  of  all 
around,  is  sadly  against  serious  thought :  and  as 
he  half  impels  and  half  is  impelled  by  his  chief 
into  the  blaze  of  entertainment  and  gaiety  which 
is  wanted  to  make  a  brilliant  conclusion  to  Lord 
Elgin's  administration,  his  doubts  and  tribulations 
grow  more  and  more.  "  Lord  E.  says  he  never 
knows  what  I  am  at,  at  one  moment  going  to  the 
extreme  of  gaiety,  at  another  to  that  of  disgust 
and  despondency.  All  he  wishes  is  in  a  good- 
natured  way  to  anmse  people ;  and  he  therefore 
can  hardly  sympathise  with  my  reactions  every 
now  and  then,  which  arise  from  my  being  too 
well  amused  myself.  He  sees  my  twinges  of  con- 
science, and  asked  me  the  other  day  whether  I 


154  AMERICA    AND    CANADA. 

was  going  to  lay  all  the  sins  I  seemed  so  much 
oppressed  with  at  his  door  ?  At  another  he  said, 
"  All  these  comments  of  yours  upon  our  proceed- 
ings distress  me  very  much.  After  all,  we  are 
only  amusing  people,  and  if  you  have  got  any- 
thing to  repent  of,  I  wish  you'd  wait  and  do  it  on 
board  ship."  Then  after  an  outcry,  which  is  not 
at  all  intended  to  be  humorous,  "  Flesh  and  blood 
can't  stand  the  temptation  of  such  hosts  of 
charming  girls  ! "  the  young  secretary  comments 
somewhat  demurely  as  follows  : — 

"  There  is  a  class  of  sins  which  are  very  diffi- 
cult to  resist,  because  you  cannot  put  your  finger 
upon  the  exact  j)oint  where  they  become  sins. 
Now,  for  instance,  a  certain  degree  of  intimacy 
with  young  ladies  is  no  harm ;  and  it  is  difficult 
to  define  where  flirting  begins,  or  what  amount 
even  of  joking  and  laughing,  though  perfectly 
innocent,  is  not  expedient,  and  one  gets  led  im- 
perceptibly on  without  feeling  the  harm  that  is 
being  done  to  both  parties  until  it  is  too  late. 
As  I  told  you  before,  I  am  not  in  any  degree  in- 
volved in  anything  :  but  I  daresay  I  should  be  if  I 
stayed  ;  or  as  an  alternative,  become  more  utterly 
heartless  in  those  matters  than  I  am  already." 

These  scruples  being  set  to  rest,   or  at  least 


WINTER    IN    CANADA.  155 

temporarily  silenced  by  being  put  into  words,  he 
gives  a  most  lively  descrij^tion  of  the  setting  in 
of  winter,  which  he  had  much  desired  to  see  before 
leaving  Canada — a  wish  which  was  gratified  by 
means  of  various  unforeseen  ministerial  changes 
which  delayed  Lord  Elgin's  departure.  De- 
scribing these  changes,  and  lamenting  the  dis- 
appointment to  his  eagerly  expectant  parents  in 
consequence,  he  adds  : — 

"  Meantime  I  am  revelling  in  the  first  burst 
of  winter  and  its  attendant  novelty.  I  would 
not  have  missed  it  for  the  world.  My  office 
window  looks  upon  the  Place  d'Armes,  a 
large  square.  On  the  one  side  is  the  plat- 
form overlooking  the  river,  forming  the  pro- 
menade in  summer  ;  on  the  other  the  main 
street.  Parliament  House,  &c.,  opposite  gardens. 
The  day  is  mild  and  calm,  and  the  snow  half 
a  foot  deep.  Not  a  wheeled  vehicle  is  to  be 
seen.  Cabstands  all  sleighs,  no  two  alike  in 
shape.  Round  the  Place  sleighs  with  tandems 
or  pairs,  full  of  ladies  mutfied  up  in  furs,  with 
buffalo-robes  streaming  behind,  dash  about  rapidly 
over  the  crisp  snow,  making  a  merry  accompani- 
ment to  its  crunching  with  their  bells,  the  occu- 
pants looking  prettier  than  ever.  Single  men 
dashing  about  in  swell  turn-outs,  from   which   I 


156  AMERICA  AND  CANADA. 

must  say  Bury  with  his  blood  horses  bears  the 
palm.  They  go  round  and  round,  cut  out  and  in, 
and  then  dash  away  through  the  Fort  gates  into 
the  snow  -  clad  country.  With  a  pleasant  com- 
panion nothing  could  be  more  exhilarating. 
Some  of  the  faster  young  ladies  are  picked  up 
by  the  most  insinuating  young  men  and  driven 
tete-a-tete,  so  snug  and  confiding.  I  had  a  charm- 
ing mufiin  yesterday.  She  is  engaged  to  be 
married,  so  don't  be  alarmed.  By  changing 
every  day  you  are  quite  safe.  It  does  not  do 
to  be  particular ;  besides,  as  you  may  suppose, 
the  nicest  won't  go  even  with  their  most  par- 
ticular friends  unless  there  is  a  picnic  or  a 
sleighing  party,  though  why  it  is  more  correct 
or  less  dangerous  then,  I  cannot  exactly  say. 

"  From  the  platform  the  scene  is  extraordinary  ; 
the  river  full  of  floes  of  floating  ice,  which  collects 
in  the  bays,  and  surges  up  into  fantastic  masses. 
People  cross  in  canoes,  and  when  they  get  to  a 
floe,  the  boatmen  jump  on  it  and  haul  the  canoe 
over,  the  occupants  remaining  still.  I  watch 
them  from  the  platform.  The  most  exciting 
part  of  sleighing  is  turning  corners.  Unless  you 
know  the  dodge  you  are  sure  to  upset,  but  it  is 
only  into  the  snow,  and  no  harm  is  done.  I  have 
not  been  upset  yet,  and  always  go  like  the  wind." 


HIS    EXCELLENCY.  157 

One  of  the  most  pleasant  things  in  these  letters 
is  the  character — always  wholly  admired,  not  al- 
ways comprehended — the  remarkable  figure  of  the 
chief,  his  Excellency,  w^io  is  sometimes  called,  in 
puzzled  familiarity,  "  a  queer  fish,"  but  whose 
boundless  ability,  his  skill,  his  command  of  every 
resource,  his  plans  never  fully  expounded,  gradu- 
ally dawning  by  degrees  on  the  young  disciple's 
brilliant  intelligence,  his  sympathy  yet  authority, 
come  out  before  us  in  a  hundred  minute  touches 
under  the  hand  of  the  writer,  all  unconscious 
that  he  is  making  any  such  portrait  in  the  letter 
he  dashes  off  to  his  mother  punctual  as  the 
post,  before  he  touches  his  official  work.  It  is, 
of  course,  imperfect,  and  in  a  manner  accidental ; 
but  it  is  admirably  vivid  and  true.  I  am  not 
aware  if  any  memoir  of  the  late  Lord  Elgin  has 
been  given  to  the  public ;  but  if  not,  the  letters 
I  have  quoted  would  afford  much  admirable 
material  to  assist  in  such  a  memorial. 


158 


CHAPTER    V. 


THE    CRIMEA. 


Laurence  returned  home  early  in  1855,  to  find 
his  parents  awaiting  him  in  London.  His  own 
prospects,  however,  were  so  unsettled — the  en- 
gagement with  Lord  Elgin  terminating  on  the 
withdrawal  of  the  latter  from  office,  though  to 
be  renewed  at  a  later  period — that  no  definite 
home  was  established  in  London ;  and  the  family, 
thus  reunited,  would  seem  to  have  contented 
themselves  in  lodgings,  now  in  one  street,  now 
in  another, — not  a  very  comfortable  mode  of  life. 
And  it  is  apparent  that  the  Chief-  Justice  of 
Ceylon,  accustomed  to  so  full  an  existence  and 
to  occupy  a  very  important  position  in  his  own 
sphere,  felt  himself  considerably  out  of  his  ele- 
ment in  London,  where  at  first  he  had  not  even 
the  comfort  of  a  club  where  he  could  meet  his 
old  friends,  these  institutions  being  less  neces- 
sities of  life  in  those  days  than  they  are  now. 


IN    SUSPENSE.  159 

And  not  ininaturally  Laurence,  after  his  brief 
but  brilliant  experience  of  public  life,  found  it 
difficult  to  content  himself  without  occupation 
and  with  the  doubtful  prosj^ects  before  him. 
His  mind  returned  with  a  bound  to  its  former 
aspirations  in  respect  to  the  Crimea,  and  to  the 
plan  he  had  conceived  of  making  a  diversion  in 
the  Caucasus,  and  thus  drawing  away  the  atten- 
tion of  Russia  to  a  country  which  it  was  of  so 
much  importance  to  her  to  overawe  and  secure. 
He  had  declined  an  offer  made  to  him  to  remain 
in  Canada  as  secretary  to  Sir  Edmund  Head, 
the  successor  of  Lord  Elgin,  in  the  spirit  of  his 
own  axiom  that  a  man  who  means  to  climb  a 
ladder  does  not  establish  himself  on  the  lowest 
step.  I  am  told  that  he  also  declined  a  small 
governorship  in  the  West  Lidies,  probably,  if 
this  is  true,  for  the  same  reason  ;  but  to  re- 
main inactive,  waiting  upon  fortune,  was  impos- 
sible to  him.  The  plan  which  he  had  reluc- 
tantly resigned  in  order  to  accompany  Lord 
Elgin  now  came  back  to  his  mind  with  double 
force  ;  and  he  soon  found  an  02:)portunity  to 
explain  and  press  his  views.  "  I  proposed,"  he 
says,  "  to  Lord  Clarendon  that  I  should  under- 
take a  mission  to  Schamyl,  for  the  purpose,  if 
possible,  of  concocting  some  scheme  with  that 
chieftain  by  which  combined  operations  could  be 


160  THE    CRIMEA. 

carried  on,  either  with  the  Turkish  contingent, 
which  was  then  just  organised  by  General  Vivian, 
or  with  the  regular  Turkish  army."  He  never 
ceased  to  believe  that  great  things  could  have 
been  done  had  this  plan  been  carried  out, — that 
the  fall  of  Kars  might  have  been  averted,  and 
most  sensible  assistance  given  in  the  carrying 
out  of  all  the  objects  of  the  war.  He  had 
scarcely  got  back  to  London,  plunging  again  into 
all  the  excitement  of  that  momentous  time  when 
the  Crimea  and  the  struggle  going  on  there  was 
the  universal  topic,  than  he  flashed  forth  a  pam- 
phlet on  this  subject,  calling  the  general  atten- 
tion to  his  project.  Perhaps  Lord  Clarendon, 
then  no  doubt  harassed  with  many  suggestions, 
considered  it  the  easiest  way  at  last  of  getting 
rid  of  the  eager  young  man,  whose  arguments 
were  unanswerable  and  his  perseverance  bound- 
less, to  send  him  off  to  the  heart  of  the  diplo- 
matic strife  at  Constantinople,  and  thus  transfer 
the  trouble  of  settling  the  question  to  other 
shoulders  than  his  own.  "  He  determined  to 
send  me  with  a  letter  to  Lord  Stratford  de  Red- 
cliflPe,  authorising  him  to  send  me  to  Daghestan, 
in  the  Eastern  Caucasus,  where  Schamyl  had 
his  stronghold,  for  the  purpose  of  making  cer- 
tain overtures  to  him,  at  his  lordship's  own 
discretion." 


DEPARTURE    FOR   THE    CRIMEA.  161 

It  is  difficult  not  to  believe  that  Lord  Claren- 
don's sanction  to  the  journey  which  Laurence 
was  so  eager  to  undertake  was  more  in  the  nature 
of  a  permission,  accompanied  by  an  introduction 
to  Lord  Stratford,  than  anything  more  authori- 
tative. The  young  man,  however,  took  it  in 
a  weightier  sense,  and  set  out  in  the  highest 
spirits,  accompanied  by  his  father,  whose  delight 
in  escaping  from  the  uncongenial  crowd  of  Lon- 
don, and  in  the  prospect  of  exciting  scenes  and 
experiences,  seems  to  have  been  even  greater 
than  that  of  his  son.  A  compunction  momen- 
tarily clouded  the  mind  of  Laurence  at  the 
thought  of  the  mother  left  alone  behind,  with 
the  chief  objects  of  her  existence  both  gone  :  but 
he  comforted  himself  with  the  thought  of  the 
visits  to  kind  friends  which  she  was  about  to 
pay  in  the  meantime,  and  the  ministrations  of 
a  kind  and  dear  Lucy,  a  favourite  niece,  who 
w^ould  console  her ;  and  also  with  an  immediate 
effort  to  keep  her  amused  by  the  most  lively 
account  of  the  journey,  and  everything  that  he 
and  "  Papa  "  said  and  did.  Papa  appears  in  an 
altogether  delightful  light  in  this  history.  Of 
course  he  picks  up  the  greatest  snobs  on  board 
to  be  kind  to,  as  Lady  Oliphant  will  understand 
— he  keeps  his  end  of  the  table  full  of  jokes  and 
mirth,  he  enjoys   everything  with  the  freshness 

VOL.    I.  L 


1G2  THE    CRIMEA. 

of  a  boy,  and  with  still  more  clelighful  freedom 
and  pleasure  in  novelty  than  even  his  son  ex- 
periences. Laurence,  indeed,  becomes  for  the 
time  middle-aged  and  serious  in  presence  of  his 
father's  insouciance  and  charming  boyishness. 
The  pair  take  the  steamer  at  Marseilles  for 
Constantinople,  and  find  themselves  at  once 
drifted  into  the  war  atmosphere.  With  them 
in  the  ship  is  "  Captain  Speke  of  the  Turkish 
Contingent,  formerly  East  India  Company's  ser- 
vice, who  was  speared  in  nine  places  on  the  coast 
of  Africa,  where  Burton,  with  whom  he  was,  was 
also  wounded  and  their  other  companions  killed. 
Of  course  he  is  dying  to  go  back  and  try  again, 
but  is  going  to  take  a  turn  to  Sebastopol  first." 
This  is  all  that  Laurence  says  of  the  great 
traveller.  It  is  curious  thus  to  meet  undistin- 
guished, before  the  events  that  made  him  famous, 
passing  across  our  vision  for  a  moment,  so  well- 
known  a  fio'ure.  Another  of  more  heroic  mould, 
Gordon,  Laurence  encountered  in  the  trenches 
before  Sebastopol,  but  unfortunately  there  is  no 
record  of  that  meeting. 

Lord  Stratford  was  not  found  at  Constantinople, 
and  the  travellers  accordingly  followed  him  in  the 
blazing  August  weather,  up  the  Bosphorus  to 
Therapia.  The  little  steamer,  which  now  fusses 
so  noisily  yet  so  peacefully  from  village  to  village 


THEE  API  A.  163 

along  the  shores  of  that  glorious  strait,  breathed 
nothing  but  gunpowder  in  those  exciting  days. 
"  The  occupants  of  the  boat  were  all  Crimean 
officers  ;  none  we  actually  knew,  but  we  found 
plenty  of  mutual  acquaintance.  It  was  exactly 
like  dining  at  a  mess.  Old  friends  met  and 
talked  over  their  wounds  and  their  dangers — some 
bovs  of  seventeen  who  have  i-'one  throuo-h  the 
whole  thing,  and  were  only  anxious  to  get  back. 
One  man  would  come  and  say,  '  How  are  you,  old 
fellow  ? '  and  the  old  fellow,  not  remembering  him, 
would  add,  '  Were  you  not  in  the  night  attack  ? ' 
and  then  they  would  talk  over  old  scenes,  not 
havmg  seen  each  other  since  parted  by  cannon- 
balls  on  that  eventful  nie-ht."  At  the  house  of 
the  English  ambassador  at  Therapia,  Laurence 
was  received  with  great  kindness  by  Lord 
Stratford,  who  talked  to  him  much  about  the 
war,  taking  the  eager  young  diplomatist  into  his 
confidence,  and  no  doubt  glad  to  hear  from  a  new 
witness  so  brilliantly  observant  and  free  from 
officialism  what  was  said  and  thought  at  home, 
where  already  he  had  been  misrepresented.  The 
ambassador  ended  by  inviting  his  visitor  to  go 
with  him  to  the  seat  of  war,  Avhither  he  was  just 
about  to  start  in  his  yacht  in  order  to  bestow 
sundry  decorations.  Amid  all  his  kindness  and 
confidential    talk,    he    would    not,    however,    say 


164  THE    CRIMEA. 

anything  about  the  mission  to  Schamyl,  which 
Lord  Clarendon  had  left  "  to  his  lordship's  discre- 
tion." DisajDpointed  by  this,  yet  pleased  and 
flattered  by  the  place  thus  offered  to  him  among 
Lord  Stratford's  immediate  surroundings,  Laurence 
resolved  to  accept  his  ofler.  "  On  the  way,"  he 
says,  "  I  shall  have  plenty  of  time  for  imbuing 
Lord  S.  with  my  own  notions,  and  if  he  does 
not  succumb  to  my  diplomacy  in  the  end,  I  shall 
consider  myself  too  stupid  to  cope  with  Schamyl, 
and  be  consoled." 

"As  I  look  out  of  my  bedroom  window,"  he 
adds,  "  I  see  nothing  but  confusion ;  the  M^iole 
quay  covered  with  French  troops  grouped  round 
their  knapsacks,  and  going  off  in  boats  to  the 
steamers,  while  bullock-waggons  containing  heavy 
baggage  wheel  along  the  water's  edge,  and  busy 
steamers  of  all  sizes  are  passing  up  and  down  the 
Bosphorus  in  such  numbers  that  people  never  look 
at  them."  The  traveller  of  the  present  day,  who 
has  felt  how  much  the  lovely  peacefulness  of  those 
beautiful  shores  is  enhanced  by  the  stream  of 
vessels  of  all  descriptions  that  go  up  and  down 
from  the  Black  Sea  to  the  more  peaceful  waters 
of  Marmora  and  the  busy  port  of  the  Golden 
Horn,  will  be  able  to  form  some  small  idea  of  the 
commotion  and  excitement  of  that  moment,  when 
the  white  sails  and  peaceful  fleets  of  trade  were 


LETTER    TO    HIS    MOTHER.  165 

swept  out  of  the  straits,  and  the  transports  and 
ships  of  war,  bound  to  and  fro  to  replenish  the 
ranks  with  fresh  troops  and  bring  back  the 
wounded  and  fever-stricken,  were  all  that  were 
visible.  Yet  even  in  the  midst  of  this  absorbing 
commotion,  the  young  self-sent  envoy,  palpitating 
with  eager  projects,  had  time  for  affectionate  and 
serious  thought. 

"  I  need  not  say  that  you  are  never  absent  from 
my  thoughts,  in  the  midst  of  all  my  plans  more  than 
ever ;    feeling  how  deeply  you  are  interested  in 
every  one  of  them,  and   above   all  feeling  how 
anxious  you  must  be.     I  find  myself,  therefore, 
referring  to  you  mentally  at  every  moment,  and 
the  only  thing  that  gives  me  anxiety  is  the  fear 
that  you  may  be  so  worried  and  anxious  as  to 
interfere  with  your  health.     Just  in  proportion  as 
my  present  life  is  one  to  cause  you  anxiety  do  I 
constantly  recur  to  you.     When  I  was  gay  and 
thoughtless  in   Canada,  I   did  not  think  half  so 
much  about  you  as  now  when  I  have  got  more 
weighty  matters  in  hand.     I  hope  you  quite  see 
the  propriety  of  not  missing  such  an  opportunity 
of  conferring  with  Lord  S.  as  my  voyage  with  him 
to  the  Crimea  offers.     I  have  been  lying  on  my 
back  for  an  hour  reading  and  praying.     I  think  it 
has  done  me  good  and  strengthened  my  faith. 


166  THE    CRIMEA. 

I  feel  ready  for  anything  that  God  may  see  fit, — 
for  disappointment,  I  hope,  as  well  as  success." 

It  is  impossible  not  to  feel  that  now  and  then 
his  mother's  call  upon  him  for  spiritual  confidences, 
and  a  report  of  all  his  thoughts,  gave  the  young 
man  a  certain  impatience,  and  that  he  satisfied 
her  desire  for  information  as  to  the  state  of  his 
soul,  sometimes  with  utterances  which  must  have 
startled  her,  sometimes  with  attempts,  not  very 
successful,  to  fall  into  the  more  ordinary  vein  of 
religious  musings.  And  there  is  always  apparent 
a  little  relief  in  getting  back  to  the  things  of  this 
world,  which  it  was  more  easy  to  treat.  "  I  hope 
to  get  Sir  E.  Lyons  and  General  Simpson  to  see 
the  propriety  of  a  Circassian  expedition,"  he  sa.js, 
carried  away  from  his  halting  religious  revelations 
to  the  more  eager  tide  of  his  hopes,  "  and  if  so, 
shall  insist  upon  l^eing  accompanied  by  a  strong 
military  force,  which  will  give  a  weight  to  m}^ 
representations  which  would  be  wanting  to  a 
solitary  agent."  It  is  evident  from  the  uncer- 
tainty and  anxiety  of  these  utterances  that  Lord 
Clarendon's  recommendation  to  Lord  Stratford 
must  have  been  more  a  favouralDle  one  of  a 
remarkable  and  highly  gifted  young  man,  than 
anything  in  the  shape  of  official  instructions  to 
the  ambassador. 


THE    BREATH    OF    WAE.  1G7 

His  next  letter  is  dated  from  Kamiesch 
Bay,  and  gives  a  curious  sensation  of  the  very 
atmosphere  and  breath  of  war.  "  Long  before 
we  saw  land  we  saw  the  vivid  flashes  of  the  guns, 
and  heard  the  reports  when  we  got  nearer  :  a 
heavy  cannonade  was  kept  up  all  night.  Very 
curious,"  he  adds,  "to  be  rigging  out  in  ball 
costume  (to  dine  in  the  Royal  Albert,  the  Ad- 
miral's ship)  to  the  sound  of  the  booming  guns 
of  the  bombardment.  After  dinner  we  watched 
the  bombardment  from  the  stern  of  the  vessel, — 
sometimes  the  flashes  rapid  and  close  together, 
and  the  noise  of  the  cannonading  very  great ;  at 
others  it  died  away  for  a  time."  With  their 
glasses  they  could  see  the  shells  whizzing  through 
the  air,  falling  in  the  trenches,  and  the  rush  of  the 
soldiers  in  all  directions.  Few  spectacles  could 
be  so  excitino-.  In  the  meantime  Laurence  had 
given  the  ambassador  his  pamphlet  to  read,  with 
the  opinions  of  which  Lord  Stratford  expressed 
his  full  agreement.  "  He  has  done  everything 
but  promise  to  send  me  to  Schamyl,"  the  young 
man  adds  ;  "  that  he  staves  off,  and  says  he  will 
think  about  it,  &c.  Though  he  can  show  no  good 
objections,  still  he  does  not  take  to  the  scheme 
kindly."  Laurence  was  not  yet  experienced 
enough  to  understand  how  diflerent  a  thing  it 
was  to  silence  a  statesman  in  argument,  so  that 


168  THE   CRIMEA. 

he  could  "  show  no  good  objections,"  and  to  get 
him  to  take  in  hand  a  visionary  though  hopeful 

scheme. 

Arrived  at  the  camp,  Laurence  describes  to 
his  mother  the  innumerable  lines  of  tents,  some 
miserable  indeed,  some  comfortable  enough,  in 
which  he  finds  as  best  he  can  a  friend  here  and 
there,  and  snatches  an  exciting  taste  of  this  life 
of  the  camp,  in  which  every  pulse  of  existence 
was  at  the  highest  pressure,  all  the  more  stormy 
and  strong  in  their  beating  from  the  constant 
disaster  about,  and  the  frequent  carrying  past 
of  strings  of  dying  and  wounded  men.  The  per- 
petual sound  of  the  guns  soon  becomes  familiar. 
"  Since  I  have  been  here  there  has  not  elapsed 
a  single  minute,  either  by  day  or  night,  in  which 
I  have  not  heard  the  report  of  cannon."  One  of 
his  objects  while  he  roams  among  the  lines  is  to 
find  a  tent  for  "  Papa,"  from  whom  he  has  been 
obliged  to  separate  in  consequence  of  his  invi- 
tation to  accompany  the  ambassador,  but  who 
followed  him  to  the  camp,  and  remained  a  most 
interested  and  excited  spectator  of  the  extra- 
ordinary life  there,  after  Laurence  himself  had 
hurried  on  to  further  and  more  wonderful  ex- 
periences still. 

On  board  the  Eoyal  Albert,  on  the  occasion 
of  the  dinner-party  which  took  place,  while  sky 


SENT    TO    CTRCASSIA.  169 

and  water  thrilled  with  the  extraordinary  sen- 
sation of  shot  and  shell,  Laurence  had  met 
the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  who  had  planned  some 
sort  of  visit  to  the  Circassian  coasts,  and  who 
immediately  invited  the  young  man  to  join  him. 
It  is  curious  to  note  how,  as  soon  as  he  appears 
on  the  scene,  this  irresistible  young  man  connects 
himself  with  all  that  is  highest  and  most  influ- 
ential near  him.  He  seems  to  have  kept  the 
Duke's  proposal  in  reserve  as  a  sort  of  jpis  aller, 
not  without  a  practical  consciousness  that  an  in- 
vitation from  an  ex-Minister  and  influential  poli- 
tical personage  was  not  one  to  be  neglected,  yet 
more  intent  upon  his  own  plan  than  on  any  kind 
of  social  promotion.  At  last,  scarcely  because 
convinced  by  Laurence's  reasoning,  yet  perhaps 
yielding  a  little  to  the  influence  of  his  strong 
conviction,  Lord  Stratford  sent  Mr  Alison,  one 
of  his  own  stafP,  on  a  special  mission  to  Cir- 
cassia  in  H.M.S.  Cyclops,  with  instructions  to 
confer  with  Mr  Longworth — the  agent  in  charge 
of  British  interests  along  the  coast-line,  where 
many  forts  and  villages  had  been  taken  from  the 
Russians — upon  the  possibilities  and  advantages 
of  a  diversion  such  as  was  proposed ;  and,  as 
Laurence  believed,  to  consult  as  to  the  practic- 
ability of  his  own  anxiously  desired  mission  to 
Schamyl.     As  this  latter,   however,  never  came 


170  THE    CRIMEA. 

to  anything,  it  may  be  permitted  to  the  reader 
to  beUeve  that  the  ambassador  was  glad  to  occupy 
the  eager  young  apphcant  by  packing  him  off  in 
attendance  upon  this  envoy,  and  thus  keeping 
him  amused  at  a  distance  while  grave  questions 
were  being-  discussed. 

Laurence  set  out  with  high  hopes,  thinking  that 
at  last  his  somewhat  quixotic  and  adventurous 
purpose  was  in  a  fair  way  of  being  carried  out. 
And  for  the  next  three  months  he  was  kept 
cruising  about  the  coast,  now  feeling  his  object 
almost  within  his  reach,  now  further  off  from  it 
than  ever.  He  was  in  the  midst  of  a  little  group 
of  officials  who  were  by  no  means  sorry  to  have 
the  help  of  his  ready  wit,  and  who  enjoyed  his 
cheerful  company,  but  there  is  no  appearance 
that  his  plan  was  ever  taken  into  serious  con- 
sideration at  all.  As  time  went  on,  and  doubts 
on  this  subject  began  to  cross  his  mind,  he  took 
great  pains  to  justify  himself  to  his  mother  for 
going  on  with  an  adventure  which  was  evidently 
very  pleasing  in  itself,  though  it  did  not  carry 
out  his  intentions.  "  Besides  writing  to  you,"  he 
says,  "  I  have  got  the  '  Times '  to  write  long 
letters  to.  I  look  upon  this  as  a  great  duty, 
because  it  brings  me  in  lots  of  tin,  and  it  is  the 
only  way  I  can  justify  my  present  life.  I  feel 
that  in  no  other  way  could  I  be  making  so  much 


(( 


LOTS    OF    TIN.'  171 


money  by  my  own  efforts."  This  most  excellent 
reason  for  continuing  in  a  position  so  agreeable  to 
him  Laurence  puts  forth,  however,  with  so  many 
repetitions,  that  we  feel  he  is  not  himself  quite 
satisfied  with  it,  perceiving  no  doubt  that,  notwith- 
standing the  "  lots  of  tin,"  and  the  still  more  con- 
solatory sense  that  he  was  the  only  Englishman 
who  could  give  the  British  public  any  real  infor- 
mation on  the  subject  which  he  felt  to  be  so 
important  a  one,  he  was  not  at  all  carrying  out 
the  great  plan  of  public  benefit  and  private  am- 
bition with  which  he  had  started. 

Amid  all  the  adventures  and  excitements  of 
this  strange  life,  however,  he  always  found  time 
to  gratify  his  mother  by  that  report  of  his  more 
serious  thoughts,  and  the  progress  of  his  spiritual 
life,  for  which  she  was  always  asking. 

''  I  am  constantly  thinking  about  these  things," 
he  says.  "  I  am  afraid,  however,  I  generalise 
too  much,  and  am  rather  getting  into  a  way  of 
overlooking  ceremonies.  I  cannot  but  think  that 
if  a  man  tries  to  act  honestly  and  uprightly  and 
singly,  the  details  of  the  thing  are  of  compara- 
tively little  importance  ;  but  then  I  also  find  that 
you  need  the  details  as  helps.  It  is  a  great 
mistake  to  attach  the  importance  we  do  to  the 
inherent  virtue  of  these  details,  and  misleads  us. 


172  THE    CRIMEA. 

Let  every  man  find  out  which  details  help  him 
most,  and  adhere  to  them.  Looked  on  in  this 
light,  I  think  Sunday  is  a  valuable  detail.  I  look 
upon  your  letters  as  a  detail  to  help  me  :  the  day 
I  get  them  is  much  more  of  a  Sunday  to  me  than 
any  other. 

"  I  feel  strongly  the  love  of  God  for  me,  and 
thankfulness  to  Him,  and  great  fear  of  offending 
Him.  I  only  do  not  always  think  that  I  am 
offending  Him,  when  you  and  others  would  think 
that  I  did.  The  more  I  think  of  Him,  the  more 
glorious  does  His  service  appear,  and  I  dread  that 
I  might  fall  into  sin,  and  am  sorry  that  I  do  not 
keep  a  strict  watch  on  my  conversation,  and  I 
do  not  think  He  hides  Himself  from  me  when  I 
pray." 

"  When  one  is  knocking  about  and  seeing  so 
much,"  he  adds  in  another  letter,  "  one  does  not 
always,  when  the  mail  is  going  out,  feel  able  to 
write  seriously  or  thoughtfully.  Besides,  when  I 
am  happy,  I  am  sorry  to  say  I  am  more  contented 
with  myself,  and  I  often  think  it  is  difficult  to 
know  how  much  of  one's  anxiety  about  the  future 
depends  upon  one's  troubles  in  the  present :  when 
these  are  removed,  one  is  apt  to  think  less  of 
one's  soul.  Innocent  amusement  is  the  most 
deadening  of  anything.  Frantic  gaiety  brings 
its   stings    of    conscience,    but    calm    enjoyment 


LOVE    OF    THEOLOGICAL    DISCUSSION.  173 

produces    a    permanent    hief   which    should    be 
watched." 

It  is  seldom  that  so  keen  a  piece  of  self-obser- 
vation as  the  above  comes  from  the  pen  of  a  young- 
man  enjoying  to  the  full,  as  he  was  doing,  all  the 
delio'hts  of  a  life  of  adventure.  He  adds,  on 
another  occasion,  some  remarks  on  the  subject 
of  the  conversion  of  a  friend  to  Eoman  Catholic 
belief,  which  throws  a  light  of  another  kind  on 
after-incidents  of  his  own  life.  "  It  is  because  he 
has  not  a  strong  will  of  his  own  that  he  wants  to 
be  dictated  to  on  points  of  faith.  Whately  says 
it  is  the  greatest  exercise  of  man's  private  judg- 
ment to  submit  it  to  another.  It  is  only  the  exer- 
cise of  a  weak  judgment."  These  are  very  strange 
words  to  come  from  one  who  in  after-years  put 
this  abnegation  of  judgment  to  so  strong  a  proof 
He  describes  himself  as  always  having  had  "  a 
mania  for  finding  out  what  people  believe,"  and 
holding  theological  discussions  with  many  of  the 
people  with  whom  he  is  thrown  into  contact  to 
this  end.  "  He  has  a  creed  of  his  own,"  he  says 
of  one  friend  ;  "  but,  like  most  people,  has  never 
really  and  philosophically  considered  the  Bible." 
In  another  he  comments  on  the  "  calm  Episco- 
palianism  "  of  a  man  who  contents  himself  with 
externals,    and    does   not    trouble    himself   with 


174  THE    CEIMEA. 

thinking, — a  state  of  mind  for  which  the  hvely 
spectator  finds  a  great  deal  to  be  said. 

Thus  he  occupied  the  time  of  inaction,  cruis- 
ing in  the    Cyclops,   running  errands   from   one 
port  to  another,  complaining  occasionally  of  want 
of  occupation,   yet   in  constant  activity,  picking 
up  every  scrap  of  information  that  came  in  his 
way,  and  resolving  to  learn  Circassian,  to  perfect 
his  studies  in  Turkish,  and  generally  to  qualify 
himself  as  the   only  Englishman   thoroughly   ac- 
quainted with  the  subject.     At  this  time  he  was 
still  certain  that   Circassia  was  the  key  of  the 
position, '  and  that  the  current  of  the  war  would 
necessarily  flow  thither  as  the  best  way  of  efiec- 
tually  crippling  and  checking  Russian  advance. 
So  far  as  he  himself  was  concerned,  his  idea  was 
that,  if  he  knew  the  language,  and  "  got  up  the 
country  thoroughly,"  Government  would  not  be 
able  to  do  without  him,  "  either  here  or  in  Par- 
liament "  ;  while  he  always  continued  to  hold  the 
conviction  that,   but  for    the  premature  conclu- 
sion of  the  war,   Circassia  would  certainly  have 
been  the  next  point  of  operations,  and  the  most 
effectual. 

It  gave  a  little  renewed  impetus  to  his  thoughts 
and  plans  when,  first,  Omar  Pasha,  at  the  head 
of  a  Turkish  force,  supplemented  by  English 
artillery,  appeared  on  the  scene ;    and  secondly, 


"an  independent  swell."  175 

the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  still  bent  upon  some  brief 
expedition  upon  Circassian  territory.  There  were 
many  consultations  between  the  Turkish  general 
and  the  English  officials,  in  which  Laurence  took 
a  part,  pleased,  as  he  says,  "  to  have  to  give  my 
opinion  as  an  independent  swell "  ;  and  for  a  time 
it  seemed  possible  that  Omar  might  take  the 
matter  into  his  own  hands,  and  that  the  mission 
to  Schamyl,  or  if  not  to  Schamyl,  at  least  to 
Schamyl's  brother-in-law,  the  Naib  of  the  Western 
Caucasus,  might  still  come  into  effect.  But  Omar 
changed  his  mind  at  the  last  moment,  when  the 
eager  young  would-be  envoy  was  actually  in  the 
saddle,  and  the  only  real  result  of  his  schemes 
was  a  hunting  expedition  of  a  few  days  with  the 
Duke  of  Newcastle's  party,  into  the  country 
which  Laurence  had  so  hoped  to  revolutionise. 
Li  his  account  of  this  he  says  :  "  The  Circassians 
are  delighted  to  receive  us  ;  but  it  is  not  easy 
to  make  a  duke  go  ahead  enough  to  please  me." 
And  indeed  there  is  something  almost  ludicrous 
in  the  idea  of  the  grave  middle-aged  statesman, 
weary  with  the  cares  of  office  and  the  troubles 
of  life,  pricked  on  by  this  fiery  boy  in  the  full 
tide  of  his  own  young  unreasoning  ambition  and 
impulses,  always  endeavouring  to  push  his  leader 
forward,  and  convert  the  hunting-party  into  a 
political  mission. 


176  THE    CRIMEA. 

"  Of  course,  as  every  step  is  on  ground  never 
before  traversed  by  Europeans,  every  stej)  was  in- 
teresting ;  and  the  scenery  was  beautiful,  but  the 
roads  dreadful, — up  almost  perpendicular  moun- 
tains and  along  the  brink  of  precipices.  The 
weather  was  heavenly  all  the  time,  and  I  would 
have  given  the  world  to  go  over  the  snow  moun- 
tains, instead  of  contenting  ourselves  with  getting 
to  the  base  of  them."  The  party  had,  however,  a 
grande  chasse  at  Prince  Michael's,  in  which  they 
did  not  kill  much,  but  found  it  "  very  good  fun." 
"  I  live  a  most  vagrant  life,"  he  adds ;  "  I  just 
sleep  where  I  happen  to  be  when  night  comes  on, 
— one  night  on  board  the  Highflyer  (the  Duke's 
ship),  the  next  on  board  the  Cyclops,  the  next  in 
Prince  Michael's  palace  or  shooting-box,  the  next  in 
a  hut."  I  have  been  told  that  during  this  period, 
when  the  eager  young  man  was  straining  at  his 
leash,  eager  for  fun  and  occupation,  he  proposed 
to  the  captain  of  the  Cyclops  to  make  a  sudden 
raid  into  a  certain  nook  in  shelter  of  an  island, 
where  he  had  discovered  that  a  Kussian  man-of- 
war  had  put  in  secretly  for  repairs, — replying  to 
the  sailor's  remonstrance  that  he  would  be  dis- 
obeying his  orders  by  doing  so  with  a  "  What 
would  that  matter  ?  Everything  is  pardoned  to 
success." 

However,  dukes  and  schemes  of  all  kinds  passed 


"did  not  expose  himself  at  all."       177 

away,  and  there  remained  only  Omar  Pasha  with 
his  army,  still  holding-  out  the  hope  of  that  cam- 
paign which  Laurence  had  always  looked  forward 
to  as  the  most  effectual  step  that  could  be  taken. 
He  set  out  with  the  vanguard  in  great  excite- 
ment   and   delight,    slightly    tempered    by   com- 
punctions as  to  his  mother's    alarms,   and  fears 
lest  this  should  be  thought  something  very  dif- 
ferent from  the   hopes   with  which    he   started ; 
yet  much  consoled  by  the  letters  to  the  '  Times,' 
which   brought    in   "  lots    of  tin,"   and  kept  the 
country  supplied  with  information  which  no  other 
Englishman  could  give.     The  Turks  proved  them- 
selves excellent  soldiers,  and  the  scattered  Rus- 
sian forces  left  in  Circassia  fell  back  before  them, 
only   attempting   an  engagement    on  the   banks 
of  the  Ingour  river,  in  which  Laurence  was  more 
actively  engaged  than  he  liked  at  first  to  con- 
fess.    His  first  account  to  his  mother  gives  the 
imjDression    of  great    caution    on   his    part.      He 
"  did  not  expose  himself  at  all " — taking  refuge 
in  a  hut,  upon  the  roof  of  which,  it  is  true,  the 
bullets  fell  like  rain,  but  where  he  professes  to 
have  been  quite  safe.     The  only  moment  of  risk 
was  "when  I   got   your  letter  of  11th  October, 
which  was  given  me   on  the  field  by  an  officer 
just   arrived  from  Constantinople,  and  in  which 
you  wonder  when  and  where  I  would  receive  it. 
VOL.    I.  M 


178  THE    CRIMEA. 

There  was  a  pretty  brisk  shower  of  missiles  flying 
about,  and  I  lay  down  under  a  bank  and  read  it. 
On  one  side  our  great  guns  were  blazing  away, 
on  the  other  the  wounded  were  being  carried 
past.  Altogether  it  was  about  as  odd  a  place 
to  receive  a  letter  in  as  you  could  have  chosen. 
However,  be  thankful  that  I  never  was  better 
in  my  life,  barring  that  I  have  had  nothing  to 
eat  for  thirty-six  hours  except  your  letter  (which 
I  devoured)  and  a  biscuit." 

In  another  letter  he  is  led  on  to  mention  "  my 
battery,"  and  this  elicits  the  following  anecdote  : — 

-  "  By  the  by,  I  never  told  you  I  had  made  a 
battery.  Skender  Pasha,  the  officer  in  command, 
thought  I  was  an  officer  from  my  having  a  regi- 
mental Turkish  fez  cap  on,  and  asked  me  if  I 
knew  where  a  battery  was  to  be  made  about 
which  he  had  orders.  It  so  happened  that  I  did, 
because  I  had  been  walking  over  the  ground  with 
Simmons  in  the  morning ;  so  Skender  told  ofl"  a 
working  party  of  two  hundred  men,  with  two 
companies  of  infantry  and  two  field-jDieces,  put 
them  under  my  command,  and  sent  me  off  to 
make  the  battery.  It  was  about  the  middle  of 
a  pitch-dark  night,  slap  under  the  Russian  guns, 
about  two  hundred  yards  from  them.  Luckily 
they  never  found  us  out,  we  worked  so  quietly.     I 


MADE    A    BATTERY.  l79 

had  to  do  everything, — hne  the  wood  with  sharp- 
shooters, put  the  field-pieces  in  jDosition,  and  place 
the  gabions.  Everybody  came  to  me  for  orders 
in  the  humblest  way.  In  about  three  hours  I  had 
run  up  no  end  of  a  battery,  without  having  a  shot 
fired  at  me,  while  Simmons,^  who  was  throwing  up 
a  battery  a  few  hundred  yards  lower  down,  had  a 
man  killed.  Both  these  batteries  did  cr-ood  ser- 
vice  two  days  after.  The  difficulty  was,  none  of 
the  officers  with  me  could  speak  anything  but 
Turkish.  Afterwards  Skender  Pasha  was  speak- 
ing to  Simmons  about  it,  complaining  of  the  Avant 
of  interpreters,  and  instancing  the  English  officer 
who  made  the  battery  not  having  an  interpreter ; 
so  Simmons  said,  '  Ce  n'est  pas  un  officier,  ce  n'est 
qu'un  simple  gentleman  qui  voyage,'  which  rather 
astonished  old  Skender.  I  think  Simmons  looks 
on  the  '  Times '  corresjDondent  with  a  more  fav- 
ourable eye  since  that  experience. 

"  I  assure  you  it  is  quite  an  act  of  self-denial 
on  my  part  leaving  the  army.  I  have  no  doubt 
I  could  get  a  command  if  I  stayed ;  but  don't 
be  in  the  least  alarmed.  I  have  not  the  re- 
motest intention  of  turning  soldier,  and  only  did 
that  for  fun  and  because  of  the  consequences  ; 
besides,  I  knew  if  we  worked  quietly  they  would 
never  find  us  out.     They  were  rather  astonished 

^  Now  General  Sir  J.  Lintorn  Simmon.s,  G.C.M.G. 


180  THE    CRIMEA. 

at  dayl^reak  to  see  a  battery  mounting  a  couple 
of  guns  staring  them  in  the  face,  and  began  to 
pound  away  at  it  with  their  rifles  ;  but  it  was 
too  late,  and  they  got  as  good  as  they  gave. 
Simmons  had  described  to  me  in  the  morning 
exactly  where  the  battery  was  to  be  made,  and 
how  to  make  it.  So  the  whole  thing-  turned  out 
very  fortunately." 

In  case  the  mother  at  home  should  think  that 
those  fortunate  and  fortuitous  accidents  which 
made  it  happen  that  Laurence  should  know  all 
about  the  battery,  and  be  thus  able  to  act  upon 
an  emergency,  implied  any  inclination  to  risk 
himself,  he  hastens  to  reassure  her  on  this  point. 
"  I  hope  you  give  me  credit  for  prudence  now," 
he  says,  "  and  will  trust  me.  I  assure  you  I  was 
in  a  horrible  fright  of  getting  shot,  entirely  on 
your  account,  and  I  don't  recommend  a  man  to 
come  to  fight  if  he  has  got  anybody  at  home  who 
loves  him.  I  don't  think  he  can  do  his  duty.  If 
it  had  not  been  for  you,  I  should  have  taken  an 
active  part  in  the  affair.  Altogether,  though  it 
was  in  some  respects  a  horrible  experience,  I  am 
glad  to  have  seen  it,"  This  was  the  only  real 
passage  of  arms  in  the  whole  campaign,  and  a 
long  pause  ensued  at  Sugdidi,  where  Laurence's 
reports  turn  again  to  less  exciting  matters,  and 


PLUNDER.  181 

to  his   own  thoughts.     The   external  hfe  of  the 
camp  is  thus  graphically  described  : — 

"  I  am  very  jolly  here  in  Sugdidi — such  a  pretty 
place — only  we  can't  plunder.  It  is  a  great  temp- 
tation. I  don't  wonder  at  soldiers  going  to  all 
lengths.  One  does  not  feel  it  is  a  bit  wrong.  I 
put  a  fine  cock  in  my  pocket  this  morning.  I 
would  have  given  his  owner  anything  he  asked  if 
I  could  have  found  him  ;  but  if  we  don't  forage 
we  g-et  nothino:  but  rice  and  biscuits  to  live  on.  I 
should  not  plunder  anything  but  food,  and  that  I 
don't  call  anything.  I  am  not  sure,"  he  adds,  "that 
I  am  not  happier,  occupied  as  my  mind  is  now.  It 
is  when  I  have  time  to  think  much  that  doubts 
arise.  When  I  just  say  my  prayers  and  read  a 
text  earnestly,  and  then  go  and  gallop  about  and 
am  in  hard  healthful  exercise,  I  feel  much  better 
in  mind  and  body.  I  feel  my  mind  much  more 
innocent  and  less  bothered  and  perplexed ;  but  I 
am  afraid  this  is  wrong,  and  that  one's  occupations 
ought  to  be  God's  work,  and  not  what  papa  calls 
playing  ones  self." 

I  may  be  permitted  to  add  one  more  of  the 
common-sense  and  reasonable  views  of  religious 
life,  in  opposition  at  once  to  the  conventionality 
of  many  of  the  so-called  evangelical  tenets,  and 


182  THE    CRIMEA. 

of  much  of  his  own  after-thoughts,  which  are  to 
be  found  scattered  through  these  letters.  "  I 
wish,"  he  says  (a  desire  in  which  I  am  unable 
to  follow  him),  "that  the  whole  Bible  was  like 
David's  compositions,  and  that  such  texts  as  '  If 
I  pleased  men  I  should  not  be  the  servant  of 
Christ,'  were  not  in  it." 

"  It  appears  to  me  that  to  be  a  faithful  servant 
of  God,  it  is  not  necessary  that  one  should  be  dis- 
pleasing to  His  creatures ;  and  that,  constituted 
as  they  are,  he  pleases  them  most  who,  by  an 
upright,  straightforward  conduct,  pleases  God 
most.  The  world  does  not  like  wicked  men,  and 
those  points  in  which  Christians  displease  the 
world  are  those  wdiich  are  involved  in  the  peculi- 
arities of  the  system,  so  to  speak,  which  do  not 
really  affect  a  man's  moral  conduct.  .  .  .  There 
is  not  a  single  thing  which  my  reason  tells  me 
I  ought  to  do,  which  if  I  did  people  would  find 
fault  with.  I  am  not  in  the  least  ashamed  to 
say,  even  in  the  most  dissipated  society,  that  I 
believe  immorality,  which  is  regarded  as  the  most 
venial  of  all  sins,  is  wrong ;  but  I  am  ashamed  to 
say  that  I  think  going  out  shooting  on  Sunday  is 
wrong,  simply  because  I  cannot  understand  why 
it  should  be,  though  I  admit  that  it  may  be  a 
valuable  exercise  of  self-denial  occasionally,  and 


CAMP    THOUGHTS.  18 


o 


that  Sunday  may  be  what  I  said  the  other  day 
— a  very  useful  detail.  I  am  afraid  you  will 
think  from  this  that  I  am  in  an  unsatisfactory 
state  of  mind ;  and  so  I  am — chiefly,  I  think, 
because  I  do  not  feel  satisfied  with  holding  views 
different  from  many  who  I  think  are  spiritually 
enlightened.  These,  at  least,  are  my  camp 
thoughts,  and  you  asked  me  always  to  write 
what  I  was  thinking.  But  you  may  imagine 
mine  is  not  a  life  now  to  foster  thought ;  and 
if  I  had  never  led  any  other,  I  daresay  I  should 
have  been  as  good  an  Episcopalian  as  Ballard,^ 
and  perhajDS  he  is  on  that .  account  the  happier 
of  the  two," 

I  think  very  few  writers  on  religious  subjects 
have  recognised  the  fact  that  many  utterances 
in  the  Bible  of  this  description  relate  to  a  totally 
different  state  of  affairs  from  any  existing  among 
ourselves,  and  that  a  man  who  makes  it  apparent 
that  he  serves  God  truly  is  in  no  sense  an  unpop- 
ular man  on  that  account.  Indeed  in  most  cases 
it  is  quite  the  reverse,  and  goodness  is  the  best 
passport  to  universal  respect.  It  pays,  as  Laurence 
would  have  said — which  is  perhaps  less  acceptable 

1  Colonel  John  Archibald  Ballard,  C.B.,  commanding  the  artillery 
attached  to  Omar  Pasha's  army,  with  whom  much  of  Oliphant's  time 
was  spent  during  this  period,  and  for  whom  he  had  a  high  regard. 


184  THE    CRIMEA. 

to  many  minds  than  the  idea  that  it  naturally 
involves  persecution. 

Here  is  another  scrap  which  no  doubt  made  the 
heart  of  the  mother  thrill  with  grateful  pleasure, 
yet  the  overpowering  sense  of  danger  escaped. 
He  has  been  describing  the  shooting  of  a  spy. 

"  A  sinofle  execution  like  this  has  far  more  ef- 
feet  upon  me  than  when  I  see  the  ground  strewn 
with    dead   bodies.     One    then    somehow  forgets 
they  are  men ;    and  when  we  had  a  little  quiet 
rifle-shooting  on  the  banks  of  the  Ingour  before 
the  battle,   I  looked  at  the  men  opposite  as  if 
they  had   been    deer,   and  adjusted  our  fellows' 
sights  for  them,  and  watched  the  effect  of  the 
shots  without  the   slightest  feeling  of  compunc- 
tion.    Once,  when  I  was  sketching  the  river,  and 
a  fellow  took  a  pot-shot  at  me,  I  took  a  rifle  to 
return  it  from   a  man  near ;  but  then  I  remem- 
bered my  promise  to  you,  and  his  humanity,  and 
crept  away.     The  fellows   Omar  sent  to  sketch 
the   river  funked   it  ;    so  I  did  a  good  deal    in 
that    line  —  crawling    about    on    my    hands    and 
knees   among  the   bushes,   and   flattering  myself 
I  was   not   seen.     Whenever  I  was   informed   of 
this  fact  by  the  whizz  of  a  Minie,  I  mizzled  ofl" 
to  a  safer  place.     I  tell  you  all  this  instead  of 
at   the  time,   because  the  fighting  is  over ;    and 


HIS    CONSCIENCE    NEVER    SATISFIED.  185 

SO  you  have  no  cause  to  fear  a  recurrence  of  this 
amusement.  But  it  was  very  exciting,  with  the 
satisfaction,  at  the  same  time,  of  being  really  of 
use.     It  was  really  sketching  under  difficulties." 

Then  the  pendulum  of  thought  swings  back 
again  to  those  subjects  of  which  his  home  letters 
are  always  full.  He  accuses  himself  over  again 
of  being  moved  by  his  present  conditions  at  the 
moment,  to  piety  or  the  reverse.  When  he  is 
in  trouble,  he  is  seized  with  "  a  sulky  fit  of 
devotion."  "  Because,  remember,"  he  continues, 
"my  religion  at  those  times  is  not  of  a  happy 
character ;  but  I  am  gloomy  and  disgusted  when 
I  am  trying  to  go  to  religion  for  comfort.  Some- 
how or  other  something  ought  to  come  of  it  all, 
for  I  am  always  thinking  of  the  subject  in  some 
shape  or  other.  My  conscience  is  never  satisfied 
with  my  conduct,  nor  my  understanding  with  my 
belief,  so  that  altogether  I  live  in  a  state  of  in- 
ternal conflict  and  argumentation ;  and  I  Avould 
desire  nothing  more  earnestly  than  to  be  a  de- 
voted Christian.  I  admit  that  it  involves  giving 
up  much  that  I  now  cling  to ;  but  I  think  I 
would  not  regret  giving  them  up.  The  best 
prescription  I  can  think  of  is  to  live  a  month 
Avith  Ernest  Noel ;  intercourse  with  him  seemed 
to    do   me   more  good  than   anything  else."     It 


186  THE    CRIMEA. 

is  seldom  that  the  conflicting  thoughts  of  a 
young  man  are  thus  clearly,  and  with  so  little 
conventional  restraint,  laid  before  another. 

The  campaign  was  brought  to  an  end  in  the  first 
place  by  the  retreat  of  the  Russians,  afterwards 
by  the  disastrous  news  of  the  fall  of  Kars,  which 
there  had  still  been  a  hojDe  of  recovering ;  and 
finally,  which  was  in  the  eyes  of  Laurence  almost 
as  great  a  disaster,  by  the  sudden  and  unsatis- 
factory peace.  And  at  last  he  is  able  to  comfort 
his  mother  with  news  of  his  approaching  home- 
coming, and  of  his  projects  for  work  and  patience, 
and  the  conviction  that  an  established  position  of 
one  kind  or  another  must  await  him.  "  I  do  not 
think  that,  though  my  prospects  are  no  more 
definite  than  they  were,  I  shall  be  so  miserable 
and  unsettled.  I  feel  more  of  a  philosopher.  I 
have  satisfied  myself  about  this  question,  and 
intend  to  be  independent.  I  can  write  what  I 
know  and  other  people  don't.  If  there  is  a 
general  election,  I  shall  certainly  try  hard  to  get 
in,  but  I  hate  the  idea  of  asking  anybody  for 
anything  now.  I  think  I  can  get  on  in  spite  of 
them." 

It  was  the  very  end  of  the  year  before  Laurence 
got  home  from  this  brilliant,  exciting,  and  entirely 
ineflPectual  journey.  He  had  made  many  new  ac- 
quaintances, both  in  places  and  people,  and  heard 


AGAIN    IN    SUSPENSE.  187 

a  great  deal  which  he  expected  to  be  superhitively 
useful  to  him,  but  which,  excejDt  in  so  far  as  it 
suj^plied  material  for  a  book,  was  of  scarcely  any 
utility  at  all.  But  he  was  no  nearer  a  definite 
mode  of  establishing  himself  in  life  than  he  had 
been  when  he  set  out.  He  returned  after  an  ill- 
ness—  cauffht  in  the  wet  and  cold  of  the  tents 
and  the  hardships  of  the  march,  which  was  in 
reality  a  retreat,  "  not  before  the  enemy  but  the 
weather,"  and  attended  by  many  dej)ressing  and 
wretched  details, — in  the  last  days  of  1855  or 
bearinninof  of  1856.  He  came  home  in  the  vein 
I  have  quoted,  determined  to  make  his  own  way 
and  ask  nothing  from  anybody,  and  with  his 
mind  divided  between  the  diplomatic  service  and 
Parliament — a  career  towards  which  he  had  al- 
ready directed  his  thoughts.  I  think  it  was  dur- 
ing this  period  that  he  first  contested  the  Stirling- 
burghs,  though  without  success  ;  but  of  this  in- 
cident I  find  no  details. 

This  waiting,  however,  for  something  to  turn 
up,  Micawber-like,  as  he  himself  describes  it, 
was  so  little  to  his  mind,  that  in  the  follow- 
ing summer  he  was  again  on  the  war  -  path, 
seeking  employment,  adventure,  or  whatever 
might  befall  him.  Unfortunately  (though  per- 
haps it  is  as  well  for  the  space  at  my  dis- 
posal),  I   have   not  succeeded    in  obtaining   any 


188  THE    CRIMEA. 

of  the    letters    of    this    period,    so   that    it   can 
only  be  traced  through  those  recollections  which 
he    thought  fit   during  his   life   to   give   to    the 
public.     From  these  it  would  appear  that,  not- 
withstanding all  his  philosophical  resolutions,  his 
impatience    of   his    own    want    of  progress    soon 
reached  a  great  height,  and  that  he  was  ready 
for  anything  that  involved  movement  and  activ- 
ity, finding  himself  no  doubt  at  the  same  time 
more  or  less  independent,  so  long  as  he  had  some- 
thing  novel    and   strange  to   tell,    by  reason   of 
that  connection  with   the   '  Times,'  which  made 
the  wildest  wandering  profitable.      Accordingly, 
he  left  England  again  in  the  course  of  the  sum- 
mer of  1856,  at  first  in  company  with  the  well- 
known  Mr  Delane  of  the  '  Times,'  to  Avhom  "  I 
was    able,"  he  says,  "  to  act  as  cicerone   on  our 
arrival  at  New  York,"  and  whose   enjoyment  of 
the    society   and    ever  -  abounding   hospitality  of 
that  capital  was   no    doubt    much   enhanced  by 
the  popularity  and  universal  acquaintanceship  of 
his  young  companion,  whose  previous  experiences 
as  Lord  Elgin's  brilliant  secretary  were  still  re- 
cent.      What    the    business   was   in   which    the 
young  man  was  engaged,  I  am  not   aware  ;   but 
he  speaks  of  it  in  a  letter  to  Mr  Leveson-Gower 
as  likely  to  put  a  thousand  pounds  in  his  pocket. 
When  this  was  accomplished,  Laurence  Avent  on 


IN    THE    SOUTHERN    STATES.  189 

upon  his  adventurous  way,  and,  with  a  keen 
scent  for  excitement  to  come,  turned  his  steps 
to  the  Southern  States,  with  the  idea,  first, 
of  making-  himself  acquainted  on  the  spot  with 
the  workings  of  slavery,  as  well  as  with  the 
jDeculiar  social  conditions  of  that  section  of  the 
American  world.  "  From  what  I  saw  and 
heard,"  he  says,  "it  was  not  diflicult  to  pre- 
dict the  cataclysm  which  took  place  four  years 
later,  though  the  idea  of  the  South  resorting  to 
violence  was  scouted  in  the  North  ;  and  when, 
upon  more  than  one  occasion,  I  ventured  to  sug- 
gest the  possibility  to  Republicans,  I  was  invari- 
ably met  by  the  reply  that  I  had  not  been  long- 
enough  in  the  country  to  understand  the  temper 
of  the  people,  and  attached  an  importance  it  did 
not  deserve  to  Southern  '  bounce.'  "  His  visit  to 
that  old-new  world  of  the  plantations — the  patri- 
archal households  and  primitive  innocent  com- 
munities, bound  by  a  hundred  ties  to  their  head, 
which  every  picture,  even  of  the  most  eager 
Abolitionist  character,  permits  us  to  see  in  the 
slave-holding  States,  though  neutralised  by  the 
horrible  possibility  of  a  traffic  in  human  flesh  and 
blood — was  full  of  interest  to  him. 

Laurence  found  his  way  as  usual  among  "  the 
best  people,"  and  his  stay  at  New  Orleans  was 
"  one   of  unqualified   enjoyment."       But    it    is  a 


190  THE    CRIMEA. 

practical  evidence  of  his  extreme  impatience  with 
the  as  yet  undetermined  hnes  of  his  own  hfe, 
that  he  should  have  been  attracted  by  the  idea 
of  an  expedition  to  which  the  nickname  "  fili- 
buster," one  of  the  most  felicitous  coinages  of 
Americanism,  was  applied — a  word  of  nonsense, 
aptly  expressing  with  humorous  scorn,  yet  im- 
partiality, the  sound  and  fury,  the  big  intention 
and  pretence,  of  the  modern  pirate,  half-swagger, 
half-serious  meaning.  That  Laurence  Oliphant, 
who  was  still  well  within  the  reach  of  good 
fortune  at  twentv-seven,  and  who  was  soon  to 
fill  a  res23onsible  and  important  place  in  actual 
diplomatic  service,  should  have  "  accepted  a  free 
passage  to  Nicaragua  in  a  ship  conveying  a  rein- 
forcement to  Walker's  army,"  and  should  have 
carried  ' '  strong  jDcrsonal  recommendations  to  that 
noted  filibuster,"  is  one  of  the  most  curious 
events  in  his  career.  This  strange  step  was 
taken  chiefly,  no  doubt,  "  for  fun,"  as  when  he 
made  his  battery, — but  also  a  little,  we  can  scarce- 
ly doubt,  from  feelings  much  more  serious,  and 
originating  in  one  of  those  fits  of  partial  despair 
and  disgust  with  his  surroundings,  and  the  lack 
of  advancement,  which  has  been  the  cause  of  so 
many  wild  enterprises.  Walker  was  requested 
by  his  agent,  Mr  Soule,  in  New  Orleans,  "  to 
explain  the  political  situation  to  me,  in  the  hope 


A    FILIBUSTER.  101 

that,  on  my  return  to  England,  I  might  induce 
the  British  Government  to  regard  his  operations 
with  a  more  favourable  eye  than  they  had  hither- 
to done.  The  fact  that  if  I  succeeded  I  was  to 
be  allowed  to  take  my  pick  out  of  a  list  of  con- 
fiscated haciendas,  or  estates,  certainly  did  not 
influence  my  decision  to  go,  though  it  may 
possibly  have  acted  as  a  gentle  stimulant ;  but 
I  remember  at  the  time  having  some  doubts  on 
the  subject,  from  a  moral  point  of  view.  I  re- 
member spending  Christmas  Day  in  high  spirits 
at  the  novelty  of  this  adventure  ujDon  which  I 
was  entering."  The  Christmas  before  he  had 
been  at  Trebizond,  just  emerging  from  the  hard- 
ships of  Omar  Pasha's  campaign.  But  during 
all  the  vicissitudes  of  his  Circassian  adventures, 
he  had  more  or  less  the  prestige  of  a  member  of 
the  British  diplomatic  service.  Now,  however, 
in  strange  contrast  to  that  reflected  dignity, 
he  was  setting  forth  on  what  was  distinctly  a 
piratical  undertaking,  amid  a  crew  of  armed  ad- 
venturers, invaders,  bent  on  conquest.  It  was  a 
singular  change,  and  one  which  we  can  scarcely 
suppose  could  sit  easily  upon  his  mind  in  moments 
of  seriousness  ;  but  the  fun  and  novelty,  with  per- 
haps something  of  the  underlying  impatience  and 
disgust  of  the  ordinary  which  had  driven  him 
from  London,  carried  the  day. 


192  THE    CRIMEA. 

This  adventure,  however,  was  doomed  to  be 
but  short ;  and  much  in  the  way  in  which  a 
naughty  prince,  in  a  romance,  would  be  arrested 
and  conveyed  back  to  his  proper  sphere,  Laurence 
was  shaken  loose  from  his  companions  and  carried 
off  to  his  natural  surroundings.  When  the  fili- 
buster ship  came  to  the  mouth  of  the  San  Juan 
river,  its  progress  was  impeded  by  "a  British 
squadron  lying  at  anchor  to  keep  the  peace," 
from  one  of  the  vessels  of  which  a  boat  was  soon 
pulling  towards  them.  "  A  moment  later  Captain 
Cockburn,  of  H.M.S.  Cossack,  was  in  the  captain's 
cabin  making  most  indiscreet  inquiries  as  to  the 
kind  of  emigrants  we  were.  It  did  not  require 
long  to  satisfy  him  ;  and  as  I  incautiously 
hazarded  a  remark  which  betrayed  my  nation- 
ality, I  was  incontinently  ordered  into  his  boat 
as  a  British  subject,  being  where  a  British  sub- 
ject had  no  right  to  be.  As  he  further  announced 
that  he  was  about  to  move  his  ship  in  such  a 
position  as  would  enable  him,  should  fighting 
occur  in  the  course  of  the  night,  to  fire  into  both 
combatants  with  entire  impartiality,  I  the  less 
regretted  this  abrupt  parting  from  my  late  com- 
panions, the  more  especially  as,  on  asking  him 
who  commanded  the  squadron,  I  found  it  was  a 
distant  cousin.  This  announcement  on  my  part 
was   received  with  some   incredulity,  and  I  was 


RESTORED    TO    SOCIETY.  193 

taken  on  board  the  Orion,  an  80 -gun  ship  carry- 
ing the  flag  of  Admiral  Erskine,  to  test  its  vera- 
city, while  Captain  Cockburn  made  his  report  of 
the  Texas  and  her  passengers.  As  soon  as  the 
admiral  recovered  from  his  amazement  at  my 
appearance,  he  most  kindly  made  me  his  guest, 
and  I  spent  a  very  agreeable  time  for  some  days, 
watching  the  emigrants  disconsolately  pacing  the 
deck." 

Thus  our  young  man  "  fell  on  his  feet "  wher- 
ever he  went,  and  instead  of  suffering  at  all  for 
his  wild  and  unjustifiable  undertaking,  found  him- 
self in  excellent  and  amusing  quarters,  restored 
to  all  the  privileges  of  his  rank, — the  admiral's 
cousin  at  sea  being  as  good  for  all  purposes  as  a 
king's  cousin  ashore.  The  moral  of  which  would 
seem  to  be  that,  when  you  have  a  habit  of  getting 
into  risky  positions,  the  best  thing  in  the  world 
is  to  belong  to  a  good  Scotch  family  of  "  kent 
folk,"  with  relations  in  every  department  of  her 
Majesty's  service  both  at  home  and  abroad. 

He  would  seem,  however,  though  the  letters 
fail  at  this  period,  to  have  been  in  a  state  of  no 
small  depression  about  his  prospects,  and  more 
than  usually  sick  of  the  uncongenial  position  of 
waiting  till  something  should  turn  up,  and  be- 
sieging his  official  friends  with  applications,  which 
is  the  usual   position    of  a   young  man   seeking 

VOL.    I.  N 


194  THE    CRIMEA. 

advancement — or  at  least  was,  before  the  public 
services  were  ruled  by  examinations  as  at  present. 
That  he  should  have  made  such  an  expedition  at 
all  is  a  proof  at  once  of  the  extraordinary  detach- 
ment and  independence  of  mind  which  afterwards 
made  his  life  so  remarkable,  and  of  great  impa- 
tience and  dissatisfaction  with  ordinary  circum- 
stances, as  well  as  of  the  love  of  adventure,  which 
was  always  a  leading  trait  in  his  character.  He 
was  so  far  independent  that  he  had  the  means  of 
moving  about  at  his  pleasure  without  any  ab- 
solute necessity  to  work  for  daily  bread, — a  fact 
which  gives  wings  to  impatience,  and  makes  every 
sudden  movement  practicable.  His  hot  impulses 
were,  however,  stayed  by  the  excellent  expedient 
of  legitimate  occupation  a  few  months  after  his 
return  from  his  filibustering  ;  and  in  the  month 
of  April  1857  he  set  out  with  his  old  friend  and 
chief,  Lord  Elgin,  on  his  mission  to  China,  occu- 
pying the  post  of  private  secretary  once  more. 


195 


CHAPTER    VI. 


THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 


It  is  unnecessary  here  to  enter  further  into  the 
history  of  the  operations  in  China  than  is  wanted 
to  explain  the  part  which  Laurence  took  hi  them. 
He  has  himself  left  a  history  of  the  mission  and 
all  its  performances,  in  a  narrative  published  im- 
mediately after  its  termination.  Its  importance 
in  modern  history  was  much  greater  than  was 
even  anticipated,  seeing  that  it  was  not  only  the 
beginning  of  legalised  and  comprehensible  deal- 
ings with  China,  but  in  some  degree  the  means 
of  discovering,  diplomatically,  and  adding  to  the 
variety  of  Nature,  the  heretofore  half  fabulous, 
yet  in  reality  most  intelligent,  wide-awake,  and 
progressive,  empire  of  Japan.  The  position  of 
Laurence  was  still  unofficial.  He  was  not  a  re- 
cognised servant  of  the  Foreign  Office  or  member 
of  the  diplomatic  service.  Probably  it  was  part 
of  the  disadvantage   of  his   irregular   education. 


196  THE   MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

and  partly  of  those  independent  ways  and  opin- 
ions which  had  always  been  characteristic  of  him, 
that  he  never  seems  to  have  made  any  attempt 
to  constitute  himself  a  regular  member  of  this 
profession  which  would  seem  to  have  been  so 
completely  congenial  to  him.  But  there  was 
still  at  that  time  an  accidental  character  about 
that  service,  and  chances  for  the  man  who  was 
jDroved  capable,  which  were  probably  much  more 
attractive  to  him  than  the  routine  of  a  public 
functionary. 

I  have  been  told  by  one  of  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  exjjedition,  Sir  Henry  Loch,  then 
an  attache  serving  his  apprenticeship  in  the 
service  in  which  he  now  occupies  so  distinguished 
a  position,  that  the  first  appearance  of  Oliphant 
among  the  group  of  young  men  in  attendance 
upon  the  Minister  was  somewhat  startling  to 
those  gilded  youths.  He  began  to  talk,  as  they 
loung'ed  about  the  deck  with  their  cig'ars,  of 
matters  spiritual  and  mystical,  singularly  different 
from  the  themes  that  usually  occuj)y  such  groups. 
They  asked  each  other  what  strange  comrade 
they  had  here  when  they  talked  over  the  new 
addition  to  their  party.  It  would  seem  to  have 
been  the  then  quite  new  development  of  what, 
for  want  of  a  better  name,  people  call  spiritual- 
ism, or  more  vulgarly,  spirit-rapping,  which  was 


RELIGIOUS    THOUGHTS.  197 

the  subject  of  the  talk  about  the  funnel  in  the 
soft  tropical  night.     I  find,  however,  no  trace  of 
this  in  the  letters,  which  give  a  wonderfully  clear 
view  of  what  Laurence  was  thinking,  and  of  the 
point  in  his  religious  history  to  which  he  had  now 
come — which,  as  the  reader  will  see,  occupied  his 
mind  very  much  even  amid  all  the  excitements  of 
the  expedition.     He  would  seem,  during  the  in- 
terval between  this  and  his  former  secretaryship 
in   Canada,   to  have  completely  burst  the  strait 
bonds    of   his    mother's    evangelical   views,   then 
holding  him  but  lightly — as  it  seems  inevitable 
that  a  lively  young  mind  awakening  to  demand 
a  reason  for  everything  should  do  :  and  had  now 
come  to  something  like  a  tenable  foundation  for 
his  personal  belief — which  differed  much  from  that 
in  which  he  had  been  trained,  yet  which  he  was 
very  anxious  to  prove  to  be  a  most  real  rule  of 
life.     Thus  the  expedition,  which  was  so  brilliant 
and  important,  and  out  of  the  records  of  which 
he  made  a   book    so     readable,    interesting,  and 
amusing,  is  associated  in  his  private  history  with 
the  rising  of  religious  thoughts  and  convictions 
which  ripened  in  the  monotony  of  the  many  in- 
tervals of  waiting  which  came  between  the  excit- 
ing episodes  of  his  life.     Nothing  can  be  more 
curious  than  to  see — between  the  fighting  and  the 
exploring,  which  he  enjoys  like  a  schoolboy,  al- 


198  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

ways  somehow  finding  himself  in  the  front,  always 
gay,  amusing,  and  amused — the  student  retired 
in  his  cabin,  hearing  nothing  but  the  monotonous 
swish  of  the  waves,  and  pondering  the  ways  of 
God  to  man,  and  especially  the  mistaken,  confus- 
ing, and  derogatory  interpretations  given  by  all 
human  systems  of  these  wonderful  ways.  Some- 
times his  own  views  are  very  strikingly  ex- 
pressed ;  but  it  is  not  necessary  that  the  reader 
should  ag-ree  with  him  in  order  to  be  interested 
in  this  curious  second  side  of  the  versatile,  de- 
lightful, gay,  and  adventurous  young  man,  who 
was  ready  for  everything — the  ball-room  and  the 
council  -  chamber  and  the  smoking  -  room,  while 
still  most  warmly  attracted  of  all  by  the  book 
of  theology  which  awaited  him  all  the  time  in  his 
retirement. 

His  parents  would  seem  to  have  been  estab- 
lished in  the  neighbourhood  of  London — I  ima- 
gine at  Spring  Grove,  a  house  within  reach  of 
his  uncle's  house  at  Wimbledon — when  he  left 
England  ;  and  to  his  mother  it  was  always  like  a 
rending  asunder  of  soul  and  body  to  part  with 
him.  He  sends  her  a  note  from  the  Indus,  the 
steamer  in  which  he  had  set  out  to  join  the 
mission  at  Alexandria,  hoping  that  she  is  not 
letting  herself  be  miserable.  "  There  are  numbers 
of  partings  going  now,"  he  writes,  "and  weeping 


EAILWAYS    IN    EGYPT.  199 

parents  going  on  shore  ;  so  you  are  not  alone." 
At  Alexandria,  where  the  new  overland  route 
and  the  railway  across  the  desert  had  just  been 
put  in  operation,  he  does  not  enter  into  any 
details  about  the  place,  which  was  already 
familiar  both  to  himself  and  his  correspondent, 
but  makes  an  amusing  note  on  the  subject  of  the 
train  coming  in  from  Cairo,  "  quite  a  sight." 
"  There  was  a  harem  carriage,  and  Arabs  were 
clinging  like  flies  to  all  parts,  crowding  the  roof, 
and  even  perched  upon  the  buffers.  They  jumped 
off  like  frogs  long  before  the  train  stopped,  I 
believe  a  good  many  are  killed  monthly ;  but 
they  are  chea,p  here,  and  certainly  take  kindly  to 
steam  locomotion."  At  Cairo  "  we  go  about  in 
grand  style.  Lord  Elgin  in  a  state  carriage,  with 
four  grey  horses,  and  a  whole  posse  of  horsemen 
and  running  footmen,  who  at  night  carry  blaz- 
ing torches,  making  the  whole  procession  very 
picturesque.  We  follow  behind  in  two  other  of 
the  Pasha's  carriages,  accompanied  by  sundry 
beys  and  swells."  At  Galle,  where  on  their 
arrival  the  well  -  known  place  brought  many 
recollections  to  the  traveller's  mind,  they  were 
met  by  the  news  of  the  breaking  out  of  the 
mutiny  in  India,  which,  however,  does  not  seem 
to  have  at  once  disturbed  either  the  secretary  or 
his  chief,  as  after-records  announce.      The  mis- 


200  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

sion  went  on,  with  a  faint  fear  that  this  new 
contingency  might  interfere  with  the  pubhc  in- 
terest in  China,  but  apparently  no  graver  appre- 
hensions :  until  further  and  worse  news  met 
them  at  Singapore,  the  next  halting  -  place  in 
their  journey. 

Lord  Elgin  has  always  received  great  credit 
for  changing,  on  his  own  responsibility,  the 
destination  of  the  troops  who  met  him  there — 
the  small  expeditionary  army,  without  the  sup- 
port of  which  his  mission  could  do  nothing — 
and  sendinof  them  on  to  India  instead,  thus 
affording  the  most  valuable  aid  at  an  import- 
ant moment.  The  extreme  embarrassment  and 
difficulty  brought  upon  himself  by  this  step  has, 
however,  received  little  notice,  magnanimity  in 
such  a  matter  being  generally,  like  virtue,  its 
own  reward.  Laurence  takes,  however,  even 
this  credit  from  his  chief,  by  an  intimation 
that  the  troops  were  ordered  to  China  by 
Lord  Canning,  to  the  dismay  of  the  plenipo- 
tentiary, thus  deprived  of  his  army.  It  is 
difficult  to  come  to  the  exact  truth  even  on 
such  a  public  matter ;  for  I  have  been  assured  by 
another  member  of  the  mission,  not  only  that 
Lord  Elgin  took  the  initiative,  but  that  it  was  on 
the  advice  of  himself,  as  knowing  India,  that  his 
lordship  did  so  !     There  is,  however,  no  doubt  as 


LORD    ELGIN    AT    SINGAPORE.  201 

to  the  next  step,  which  was  that  Lord  Elgin, 
finding  his  own  position  thus  diminished,  and 
moved  by  the  tremendous  difficulty  and  danger 
of  the  crisis,  himself  followed  the  troops  to 
Calcutta  to  give  Lord  Canning  his  support,  and 
that,  still  more  effectual,  of  a  naval  brigade  from 
the  Shannon  and  Pearl.  That  there  was  some 
policy  in  this  movement,  as  well  as  a  chivalrous 
postponement  of  the  interests  of  his  own  mission, 
was  perhaps  more  apparent  at  the  time  to  the 
members  of  the  mission,  thus  arrested,  than  it  was 
to  the  general  public.  Lord  Elgin  was  consoled 
by  a  patriotic  address  from  the  merchants  of 
Singapore,  whose  interests  were  much  concerned 
in  the  success  of  his  expedition,  yet  who  concurred 
wisely  and  sympathetically  in  the  delay.  As 
these  excellent  men  were  not  of  a  literary  turn, 
they  had  recourse  to  Lord  Elgin's  young  secre- 
tary, who  had  already  made  himself  universally 
popular  in  the  community,  to  write  their  address 
for  them, — a  circumstance  which  did  not  in  the 
least  detract  from  its  perfectly  genuine  character, 
but  which  Laurence  related  with  much  amusement 
to  his  mother  at  home. 

Nothing  more  self-denying  than  the  step  thus 
taken  could  have  been.  It  involved  not  only  the 
absence  of  all  the  prestige  surrounding  a  splendid 
expedition,  but  the  surrender  of  the  fine  ship  and 


202  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

comfortable  quarters  provided  for  the  envoy  and 
his  staff,  and  much  miserable  uncertainty,  delay, 
and  humiliation.  And  though  they  were  received 
at  Calcutta  on  their  arrival  with  the  greatest  en- 
thusiasm, the  secretary's  letters  do  not  convey 
the  idea  that  the  magnanimous  visitor  had  any 
great  recompense  for  his  sacrifice.  "  He  scarcely 
sees  a  soul,  and  leads  a  dreary  life  in  that  dreary 
pile,"  says  the  young  man,  who  is  for  his  own 
part  somewhat  astonished  to  see  the  calm  of  Cal- 
cutta, the  usual  show  of  beauty  and  fashion  on 
the  ordinary  promenade,  and  the  usual  hospitali- 
ties going  on — a  thing,  no  doubt,  inevitable,  but 
always  jarring  upon  the  nerves  of  the  spectator. 
He  himself,  however,  as  a  spectator,  shared  this 
calm.  There  is  no  appearance  in  his  letters  of 
excitement,  though  he  was  surprised  by  the  ordi- 
nary look  of  everything  around  him.  In  the 
same  house  in  which  he  was  lodged  were  two 
ladies  lately  escaped  at  the  risk  of  their  lives, 
and  under  remarkable  circumstances,  on  the  eve 
of  a  massacre  ;  but  who  drove  out  with  himself 
and  a  friend  in  their  buggies  for  the  evening 
drive  as  if  nothing  had  happened — curious  com- 
posure of  human  nature,  which  assimilates  the 
most  wonderful  events,  and  takes  tragedy  itself 
into  the  common  current  of  every  day  1 

The  Chinese  mission,  however,  were  outsiders, 


AN    ARRESTED    EXPEDITION.  203 

and  had  nothing  to  do  ])ersonally  with  the 
Indian  crisis.  And  when  they  returned  again 
to  the  scene  of  their  own  duties  humbly  in  a 
P.  &  O.  steamer — the  Ava — without  any  of  the 
pomp  of  the  splendid  man-of-war,  to  kick  their 
heels  in  Hono--Kono-  and  wait  until  a  detach- 
ment  of  1500  soldiers  should  be  sent  to  them 
from  England,  to  fill  the  place  of  the  5000  men, 
soldiers  and  sailors  together,  whom  they  had 
parted  with  to  India,  it  is  little  wonder  if  they 
were  discouraged.  The  excitement  of  a  great 
sacrifice  is  apt  to  have  a  contre-coup  of  vexa- 
tion and  depression.  "  We  have  sunk  into  such 
insignificance,  and  are  in  such  a  fix  without  an 
army,"  Laurence  wrote  on  his  return  to  Hong- 
Kong,  "  nor  are  the  speeches  of  Sir  C.  Wood 
and  other  members  of  the  Government  very  en- 
couraging. How  they  expect  Lord  Elgin  to  carry 
out  the  same  policy  without  any  army  which  he 
was  instructed  to  do  with  one,  is  not  very  clear." 
He  adds,  with  a  little  amusing  malice,  "  I  have 
one  consolation,  that  you  w^ill  be  much  more  re- 
lieved thinking  of  me  living  cooped  up  in  a 
ship  in  harbour  for  the  next  three  months, 
where  there  are  neither  women  nor  Chinese, 
than  if  I  were  doing  anything  else."  It  is  ap- 
parent throughout  that  Lady  Oliphant  largely 
shared  what   is   supposed   to   be  a  general   feel- 


204  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

ing  with  mothers,  against  the  intrusion  of  love 
into  the  hearts  of  their  sons.  She  upbraids  him 
sometimes  as  being  heartless,  when  some  instance 
of  inadvertent  fascination  on  Laurence's  part 
rouses  her  pity  for  the  lady  whom  he  has  loved 
and  ridden  away.  Indeed  it  would  appear  to 
have  been  the  truth  that  our  young  diplomat, 
always  addicted  to  making  himself  agreeable, 
was  still  more  so  where  ladies  were  concerned ; 
and,  whether  by  means  of  polkas  or  theological 
discussions,  was  wont  to  work  considerable  havoc 
upon  his  way  through  the  world.  His  mother 
is  glad  to  hear  that  he  is  in  a  place  where  such 
intercourse  is  impracticable  ;  but  Laurence  him- 
self does  not  like  it.  It  is  to  be  said  for  him, 
however,  that  he  always  informs  her  of  his  amuse- 
ments in  this  way,  keeping  her,  no  doubt,  in  a 
flutter  of  alarm  which  he  was  apt  to  enjoy. 

Yet  with  all  this,  these  letters,  which  are  so 
confidential,  so  full  of  the  comradeship  and  equal- 
ity which  is  rare  between  parents  and  children 
(there  was,  as  I  have  said,  only  some  eighteen 
years'  difference  in  their  age),  so  free  in  discus- 
sion and  remark  —  continue  to  be  filled  above 
everything  else  with  his  religious  views  and  feel- 
ino-s  :  the  revelation  of  what  he  has  come  to  in 
the  way  of  conviction  after  much  struggling,  and 
tortures  of  doubt — and  his  indignant  disapproval 


THE   LIGHT    OF    EEASON.  205 

of  the  hackneyed  types  of  Christianity  with 
which  he  is  acquainted.  His  first  letter  on  this 
subject  is  in  answer  to  an  expression  of  much 
dissatisfaction  on  her  part  as  to  his  views. 

"  Hong-Kong,  Ath  July  [1857]. 

"All  that  related  to  J.  pained  me  much,  but 
so  did  that  which  related  to  myself.  I  thought 
you  understood  that  it  was  no  obstinacy  on  my 
part  which  compels  me,  before  adopting  a  faith, 
to  judge  of  the  merits  of  its  claim  by  the  light 
God  has  given  me.  It  is  no  light  thing  attribut- 
ing to  the  Deity  a  Avork  containing  much  that 
appears  derogatory  to  His  dignity.  Nor  is  there 
any  means  whatever  of  knowing  whether  it  is  His 
or  not,  except  by  an  exercise  of  the  means  He  has 
given  us.  I  do  not  in  the  least  set  up  my  reason 
-against  His,  but  against  my  fellow-creatures',  who 
tell  me  to  accept  a  book  as  from  Him  upon  no 
better  evidence  than  I  myself  possess,  the  chief 
reason  being  that  it  is  better  than  any  other, 
which  I  am  quite  ready  to  admit  ;  but  I  feel 
that  I  should  be  sinning  seriously  against  Him 
were  I  not  very  jealously  to  guard  against  adopt- 
ing any  system  which  involved  what  I  consider 
deffradino-  to  Him,  without  overwhelming  evi- 
dence  of  its  authenticity.  Such  evidence  must 
of  necessity  be  supernatural,  as  everything  com- 


206  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

ing  through  mortal  agency  is,  prima  facie,  from 
the  very  nature  of  things,  imperfect.  I  do  not 
like  to  dwell  on  a  subject  which  I  know  is  pain- 
ful to  you,  and  I  am  afraid  you  will  never  under- 
stand what  I  mean,  or,  after  all  I  have  said  to 
you,  you  would  never  have  used  the  old  argu- 
ments about  not  exercising  my  reason  on  what 
I  do  not  understand.  I  certainly  do  not  under- 
stand God's  dealings  with  man,  nor  am  I  so 
presumptuous  as  to  suppose  I  ever  shall ;  but 
if  I  did  not  exercise  my  reason,  there  would  be 
nothing  to  prevent  my  accepting  the  Koran  or 
any  other  system  of  theology  my  fellow-creatures 
might  assure  me  was  right,  and  deny  me  the 
privilege  of  judging  for  myself  You  say  you 
would  be  glad  if  I  could  give  up  my  .career  for 
God's  service.  I  would  willingly  go  into  a  dun- 
geon for  the  rest  of  my  days  if  I  was  vouchsafed 
a  supernatural  revelation  of  a  faith  ;  but  I  should 
consider  myself  positively  wicked  if  upon  so  mo- 
mentous a  subject  I  was  content  with  any  assump- 
tions of  my  erring  and  imperfect  fellow-creatures, 
when  against  the  light  of  my  own  conscience. 

"With  regard  to  prayer,  I  have  lately  been 
askinsf  for  thino^s,  because  I  could  not  endure, 
as  it  were,  merely  stating  my  case,  and  I  felt  so 
strongly  what  you  say  about  answers ;  but  it 
has  been,  and  is,  with  a  strong  feeling  of  doubt 


DIFFICULTY    ABOUT    PRAYER.  207 

and  disquietude  that  I  am  dishonouring  Him 
by  supposing  I  can  influence  Him  in  anything. 
However,  I  have  too  strong  a  sense  of  His  love 
to  think  it  can  be  displeasing  to  Him  ;  and  the 
instinct  seems  so  deeply  implanted  in  one  to  do 
so,  though  I  think  it  is  only  the  instinct  of  a 
low  spiritual  creature,  and  when  one  gets  further 
advanced  one  will  not  need  it.  However,  it  is 
no  pleasure  to  me  to  be  thus  distracted  with 
doubts  and  difficulties,  and  therefore  pray  do 
not  think  I  am  doing  it  from  a  spirit  of  pride 
or 'opposition.  I  am  really  anxious  to  know  and 
do  what  is  right,  though  the  circumstances  of  my 
present  life  are  unfavourable  ;  and,  moreover,  I 
do  not  attach  importance  to  the  infraction  of 
what  are  really  the  conventionalities  of  the 
Christian  world.  I  may  appear  to  be  irreligious 
because  my  religion  does  not  consist  in  the  same 
course  of  action,  and  my  standard  is  different.  I 
do  not  say  that  I  act  up  to  it,  but  I  think  if  I 
did  I  should  shame  the  professing  Christian,  My 
faith  is  not  strong  enough  to  bring  me  up  to  my 
standard,  but  I  hope  it  may  be  some  day. 

' '  I  quite  agree  in  Avhat  papa  says  about  the 
spiritualist's  God.  I  felt  it  myself  It  removed 
Him  too  far  off".  But,  on  the  other  hand,  what 
papa  calls  God's  invention  of  Christ  does  not  re- 
move the  difliculty  :  it  substitutes  another  being, 


208  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

whose  merit  is  that  you  are  to  think  of  Him  as 
God.  The  moment  you  think  of  Him  as  God, 
He  is  as  far  away  as  ever,  besides  the  dire  con- 
fusion which  such  a  mixture  immediately  raises 
in  the  mind.  I  never  from  my  earhest  day  could 
get  over  that  difficulty,  and  always  found  myself 
instinctively  yearning  for  the  fountainhead,  and 
overleaping  all  intermediate  beings.  However,  I 
am  glad  you  wrote,  because  it  stirs  me  up.  I  get 
too  distracted  sometimes  by  my  mode  of  life,  and 
do  not  think  so  much  as  I  ought.  In  order  to 
keep  up  the  proper  peace  of  mind,  one  ought  to 
be  constantly  thinking,  and  not  contented  with  a 
morning  and  evening  ejaculation.  I  would  sooner 
go  to  the  stake  than  do  violence  to  what  I  believe 
to  be  the  yearnings  and  whisperings,  weak  and 
imperfect  no  doubt,  of  my  divine  nature." 

He  returns  to  the  subject  of  prayer  on  another 
occasion,  quoting  a  passage  from  Francis  NcM'-man 
to  illustrate  his  position.  "  So,"  he  adds,  "  because 
I  pray  I  do  not  feel  that  I  can  influence  God,  but 
that  in  expressing  my  desires  I  am  holding 
almost  the  only  communion  which  is  open  to 
me,  giving  Him,  as  it  were,  all  my  confidence, 
as  the  most  pleasing  homage  I  can  do  Him, 
and  the  fullest  recognition  I  can  make  of  His 
love  and   beneficence,   and  the  interest   He  has 


NO    CRITIC.  209 

in  my  happiness  and  welfare."  This  is  little 
more  than  a  modern  expression  of  the  same 
sentiment  which  John  Knox  stated,  in  far 
stronger  and  more  eloquent  words,  when  he 
described  prayer  as  "an  earnest  and  familiar 
talking  with  God."  Laurence,  however,  had 
not,  I  fear,  notwithstanding  his  many  qualities, 
that  preference  for  the  best  and  highest  in 
literature,  either  sacred  or  profane,  which  we 
expect  to  find  in  a  mind  so  well  endowed. 
Theodore  Parker  is  the  fount  from  which  he 
chiefly  draws  in  these  religious  speculations,  and 
he  finds  pleasure  in  Longfellow  which  Tennyson 
does  not  convey.  It  is  not  necessary  to  be  a 
critic  because  a  man  is  full  of  native  •  ability 
and  force  of  mind.  The  juxtaposition  of  these 
two  names  in  poetry,  with  a  preference  for  the 
former  unhesitatingly  and  strongly  expressed, 
will  make  most  readers  smile  :  but  it  would 
be  vain  to  claim  for  him  a  perfection  which  he 
did  not  possess.  Perhaps  his  early  association 
with  America,  in  the  first  independent  opening 
of  his  mind,  may  have  had  something  to  do 
with  it ;  perhaps  his  imperfect  education,  which 
fed  him  upon  "  good "  books,  and  shut  up  to 
him  the  highest  sources  of  poetical  imagination. 
Some  one,  I  do  not  remember  who,  tells  of  the 
excitement  and  delig-ht  with  which  he  discovered 

VOL.    I.  O 


210  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

Shakespeare,  who  had  been  unknown  to  him — 
comhiof  back  and  back  to  tell  his  amused  friends 
of  some  new  wonder  in  the  book  which  they  had 
recommended  to  him  in  the  dearth  of  other 
reading.  It  is  well  to  know  that  he  was  capable 
of  being  thus  stirred  :  he  was  not  capable,  it  is 
evident,  of  judging  the  respective  magnitudes  of 
the  lesser  lights. 

The  subject  of  religion,  however,  is  far  the 
most  important  to  him,  and  continually  in  his 
thoughts.  His  feelings  on  this  subject  are 
saddened  by  the  consciousness  that  his  corres- 
pondent will  not  enter  into  them,  but  rather 
blame  him  for  his  views  on  many  matters  of 
faith.  • "  A  transition  state,"  he  says,  "  such  as 
I  am  in,  is  never  a  favourable  one  ;  but  I  do  hope 
that  I  am  o-ettinof  hold  of  somethingf.  I  have 
learnt,  however,  to  believe  in  nothing  which  I 
cannot  see  manifested  in  life.  The  influence  of 
early  life,  and  the  constraints  Avhich  one  set  of 
opinions  imposed,  are  loosened.  Though  another 
set  of  opinions  may  involve  precisely  the  same 
restraints,  time  is  required  to  ripen  their  in- 
fluence. Of  course,  a  man  cannot  bring  a  faith 
to  bear  upon  his  life  and  conversation  until  he 
has  got  a  very  firm  hold  of  it." 

The  one  point  upon  which  he  is  assured  is  that 
this  is  his  only  test.      He  sees  all  round  him  men 


CHRISTIAX    FAITH    AND    CHRISTIAN    PRACTICE.       211 

who  are  very  nice  fellows,  who  would  be  horrified 
not  to  be  called  Christians,  but  in  whom  religion 
of  any  kind  is  as  little  apparent  as  if  they  believed 
nothing.  "  I  am  a  thorough  Christian,"  he  says, 
"  so  far  as  my  reverence  for  and  belief  in  every 
moral  principle  Christ  has  jDropounded  is  con- 
cerned ;  but  I  am  utterly  opposed  to  the  popular 
development  of  Christianity, — indeed  I  think  it 
quite  inconsistent  with  His  teaching.  I  never 
felt  so  deep  an  interest  in  any  subject,  and  am 
thankful  for  the  leisure  I  have  had  to  read  and 
think  of  it."  The  same  sentiment  appears  again 
and  again.  "  Those  who  have  seen  war,"  he 
says,  "  can  best  appreciate  the  value  of  Christ's 
'  Blessed  are  the  peacemakers.' 

"  If  that  was  to  be  the  aim  of  the  diplomatist, 
his  would  be  the  noblest  of  professions.  My 
natural  man  is  intensely  warlike,  which  is  just 
as  low  a  passion  as  avarice  or  any  other.  I 
went  last  Sunday  to  church  to  hear  a  parson, 
with  a  Crimean  medal  on  his  surplice,  preach 
between  a  lot  of  6 8 -pounders  on  'Fear  not  man 
that  can  kill  the  body,  but  fear  Him  who  can 
cast  both  body  and  soul  into  hell,'  and  I  won- 
dered what  sort  of  morality  you  could  expect 
from  men  whose  occupation  was  the  destruc- 
tion   of   their    fellow-creatures,    to   the    conscien- 


212  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

tlous  discharge  of  which  they  were  to  be  urged 
by  their  fear  of  an  avenging  Deity,  the  Creator 
of  them  all.  One  would  think  even  a  sailor 
would  discern  the  impossibility  of  elevating  his 
moral  nature  by  the  application  of  two  such 
principles  as  cruelty  and  fear." 

It  is  not  my  part  to  point  out  the  fallacy  as  well 
as  the  strong  par^*  pris  of  these  remarks  :  they 
are  intended  to  show  the  workingf  of  the  mind, 
which  it  is  my  business  to  delineate  in  its  weak- 
ness as  well  as  in  its  strength. 

"  The  more  I  consider  my  own  nature,"  he 
adds,  "  the  more  I  see  the  tremendous  power 
a  creed  ought  to  contain  within  itself  to  be- 
come a  living  principle.  A  flaw  here  or  there 
does  infinite  mischief.  In  order  to  prevail  over 
the  tendency  to  evil,  it  must  invade  with  over- 
whelming force  a  man's  whole  nature,  obliging 
him  by  its  purity,  and  the  strength  of  its 
appeal  to  his  convictions,  to  recognise  its  truth ; 
but  if  his  moral  instincts  discover  the  slightest 
flaw,  the  M^hole  fabric  goes  by  the  board,  and 
he  has  hard  work  to  make  up  the  leeway, 
which  the  absence  of  the  old  faith  and  the 
struDfofle  foi-  the  new  involves.  I  can  well 
understand    any  man   giving   up   in   despair  the 


ADVANCING    FAITH.  213 

hope  of  finding  a  creed  containing'  elements 
powerful  enough  to  govern  him  absolutely.  It  is 
a  long  time  before  he  gets  over  a  sort  of  repug- 
nance at  the  very  idea  of  the  old  one,  and  rec- 
ognises again  all  that  is  good  and  beautiful  in 
it.  1  do  think  that  God  satisfies  every  man's 
craving  in  this  respect  in  time,  if  he  keeps  on 
fighting  and  groping." 

It  is  very  seldom  that  we  have  the  spectacle 
of  a  mind  thus  seethinof  with  dissatisfaction  and 
eager  desire  after  a  better  way,  so  curiously  un- 
philosophical  in  his  philosophy,  and  so  penetrated 
in  the  midst  of  his  revolt  by  sentiments  of  rever- 
ential and  strongly  realised  faith.  Here  is  a 
very  interesting  exposition  of  his  standing  ground 
and  its  disadvantao-es  : — 

"  In  looking  upon  my  own  state  and  experience, 
I  find  to  the  good  that  I  have  made  certain  ad- 
vances towards  a  faith  which  no  doubt  influences 
my  life  perhaps  not  more  than  my  life  used  to 
be  influenced  before  ;  but  the  difierence  is  that 
formerly  my  life  depended  not  upon  the  sincerity 
of  my  moral  convictions,  or  even  on  my  fear  of 
oftending  God,  but  entirely  on  the  fear  of  making 
you  miserable.  Had  that  check  ceased  to  exist, 
I    have    no    doubt    I    should   have   gone   to   the 


214  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

bad.  The  old  associations  and  habitual  restraints 
might  have  held  me  in  for  a  short  time,  but  very 
short,  and  the  end  would  have  been  utter  reckless- 
ness or  defiance.  Now  that  is  all  changed,  and 
although,  as  I  say,  my  present  life  may  not  be 
better  than  my  past,  still  it  is  founded  on  a  dif- 
ferent basis,  and,  I  trust,  will  go  on  improving, 
irrespective  of  any  mundane  event.  That,  I  say, 
I  find  to  the  crood.  To  the  bad  I  have  to  lament 
an  entire  looseness  in  my  moral  tone  and  con- 
versation, for  which  I  can  perfectly  account,  but 
which  I  find  it  most  difficult  to  overcome.  It 
arises  from  the  contempt  I  feel  (but  which  is 
wrong)  for  professors  of  a  creed  which  has  no 
power  over  them,  but  all  the  dogmas  which  I 
am  blamed  for  not  subscribing  to.  When  men 
who  keep  harems  go  to  church  regularly,  and 
blame  me  for  not  going  with  them,  I  am  apt  to 
confound  the  faith  with  the  individual,  and  swear 
at  the  whole  concern.  And  so,  because  I  do  not 
confess  to  a  good  deal  that  seems  to  be  hollow  in 
the  practice  of  a  popular  theology,  I  am  put  down 
as  being  without  religion,  and  so  lose  any  influ- 
ence which,  did  I  refrain  from  this,  I  might  have, 
besides  giving  a  totally  wrong  impression  of  my 
real  convictions.  But  it  is  a  mistake  to  con- 
found religion  with  theology.  It  is  the  fashion  to 
regard  the  former  as  springing  from  the  latter, 


REFLECTING    THE   MIND    OF    GOD.  215 

whereas  if  you  have  the  former  it  makes  Httle 
difference  what  you  profess  as  the  latter. 

"  But  do  not  think  I  confound  the  Christian 
rehgion  with  the  practice  which  its  professors 
follow,  in  accordance  with  a  theology  they  have 
deduced  from  it.  The  Bible  is  a  very  different 
thing  from  the  popularly  received  traditionary 
interpretation  of  it  which  rests  on  human  reason. 
I  quite  believe  in  its  inspiration,  but  in  a  parti- 
cular wav.  I  had  first  thought  of  an  illustra- 
tion  when  I  found  an  almost  exactly  similar  one 
in  Morell.  He  proves,  by  a  very  well  -  argued 
and  elaborate  process,  that  revelation  and  intui- 
tion are  the  same  thing.  I  had  long  arrived  at 
that,  but  did  not  know  how,  until  he  proved  it. 
Theodore  Parker  has  the  same  ;  but  my  notion 
is  this,  that  supposing  a  man's  whole  moral  nature 
was  in  perfect  harmony,  and  his  spiritual  intelli- 
gence perfect,  his  mind  would  be  like  a  perfectly 
calm  lake  upon  which  would  be  accordingly 
reflected  the  mind  of  God  ;  but  the  moment  the 
surface  is  disturbed  the  image  becomes  imperfect, 
the  amount  of  the  imperfection  depending  ujDon 
the  amount  of  the  disturbance.  Now,  according 
to  my  view,  the  minds  of  Christ  and  of  His  apos- 
tles were  in  that  state  of  almost  perfect  spiritual 
repose.  They  reflected  more  accurately  than  was 
ever   done   before    or   since    the    mind    of  God  : 


216  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

that  is,  the  apostles  caught  their  repose  from  the 
mind  of  Christ — but  you  see  in  them  the  imper- 
fections of  a  disturbed  moral  nature.     Peter  and 
Paul  quarrel,   and   attach    importance    to   things 
strangled  and  to  circumcision — that  is,  the  surface 
was  ruffled  by  old  prejudices,  undue  spiritual  en- 
thusiasm, strong  passions,  &c. — and  so  fail  to  give 
that  perfect  image  of  the  mind  of  God.     We  may 
perceive  these  imperfections,  though  very  far  from 
having  minds  so  spiritually  enlightened  as  theirs, 
just  as  you  can  tell  the  faults  of  a  picture  without 
being  an  artist.     I  feel  sure  that  as  men's  minds 
become  more  enlightened,  and  they  begin  to  re- 
ceive  those   revelations  which  the   apostles   did 
themselves,  they  will  no  longer  accord  their  writ- 
ings the  infallibility   which    they    do    not  claim 
(they  only  claim  inspiration,  which,  as  I  say,  they 
certainly  had,  and  which  I  trust  others  may  yet 
have).     The  goodness  of  the  inspiration  must  de- 
pend upon  the  medium.      The  purest  inspiration 
may  be  polluted.     If  the  channel  is  a  sewer,  it 
does  not  matter  how  clear  may  be  the  spring ;   so 
in  the  Old  Testament  we  find  all  sorts  of  people 
chosen  as  mediums  ;   but  of  the  value,  for  instance, 
of  Solomon's  inspiration  we  must  judge  for  our- 
selves.    It  is  in  accordance  with  the  divine  plan 
always   to   make  use  of  human   means,  with   all 
their  imperfections,  and  I  see  no  reason  to  sup- 


UNSUITED    FOR   PHILOSOPHICAL    INQUIRIES.         217 

pose  that  the  Bible  is  the  only  thing  that  ever 
came  through  human  instruments  that  does  not 
partake  of  their  imperfections,  more  especially 
when  the  internal  evidence  that  it  does  so  is 
irresistible  to  my  mind." 

He  adds,  that  in  the  midst  of  the  rising  excite- 
ment of  an  approaching   crisis,  which  in   former 
times  w^ould  have  occupied  him  wholly,  he  feels 
himself  much    more    interested    in    metaphysical 
questions   than   in   the   bombardment  of  Canton, 
or  anything  that  can  happen.     His  guides  in  these 
researches  seem  to  have  been  Theodore  Parker, 
to   whom  he  constantly   refers,   and  Mr  Morell, 
whose  '  History  of  Philosophy  '  had  recently  made 
an  impression  upon  the   public    attention  which 
has   not    proved   permanent.     It    is    unfortunate 
that  a  mind  so  active,  yet  which  was  never  with- 
out a  certain  confusion  in  these  matters — which, 
curiously  enough,  he  proclaims  at  this  period  as  his 
favourite   study  —  should   not    have   been   under 
more    thorough    and   trustworthy  guidance.      It 
seems  a  paradox,  yet  it  is  one  of  which  there  are 
many  examples,   that   when   a    mind   essentially 
practical,    with    a   special   literary   gift    of  clear 
narrative,  involves  itself  in  metaphysical  subjects, 
this  strange  confusion  is  often  the  result.    General 
Gordon  is  another  example  of  a  heroically  keen 
intelligence  in  practical  effort  and  dealings  with 


218  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

men,  which  yet  JDecame  hopelessly  clouded  and 
bewildered  in  theological  matters,  wandering  in 
a  fog  of  chaotic  thought,  and  substituting  subject 
for  object,  and  vice  versd,  with  a  boldness  which 
is  also  heroic,  though  sadly  perplexing  to  the 
reader.  Laurence  Oliphant's  religious  theories  at 
this  moment,  when  he  pursued  them  hotly  in  his 
cabin,  amid  all  the  curious  surroundings  of  an 
expedition  which  was  at  once  diplomatic  and 
military,  will  show  how  ready  his  mind  was  for 
the  influences  which  afterwards  took  possession 
of  it, — how  superficial  in  theory,  how  heroic  in 
determination  to  follow  out  his  conclusions  to 
whatever  end  they  might  lead. 

Meantime,  as  he  says,  the  plot  was  thickening 
around,  and  had  it  not  been  for  this  preoccupa- 
tion with  metaphysics  and  the  religious  question, 
"  I  ouo-ht  now  to  be  in  an  intense  state  of  excite- 
ment. 

"  Wade  has  gone  up  the  river  with  a  flag  of 
truce  and  Lord  Elgin's  ultimatum  to  Yeh.  I 
volunteered  to  go  ;  but  he  was  quite  right  not 
to  send  me,  not  being  a  Chinese  scholar,  though 
I  beirsed  hard.  The  Admiral  has  drawn  a  cordon 
close  round  Canton,  and  is  to  occupy  the  island 
of  Homan,  immediately  opposite  the  town,  to- 
morrow.    The  French  fleet  has  gone  up  the  river 


A    DAY    OF    HUMILIATION.  219 

to  take  part  in  the  blockade.  The  59th  and 
artillery  go  up  with  the  General ;  in  a  day  or 
two  we  shall  have  ujd wards  of  GOOO  men  as  a 
land  force,  half  red  jackets  and  half  blue,  includ- 
ing the  French.  If  Yeh  does  not  give  in,  they 
will  take  Canton  on  Tuesday  week,  the  2 2d,  prob- 
ably. I  do  not  anticipate  any  great  difficulty 
even  if  he  holds  out ;  but  the  bazaar  rejDort  here 
is  that  he  is  in  a  horrid  fright,  and  going  to  give 
in  and  come  to  terms.  I  hope  he  may,  for  in  case 
of  bombardment  of  a  town  containing  a  million 
of  people,  the  slaughter  of  innocent  women  and 
children  and  people  generally  will  be  dreadful. 
However,  the  bishop  has  appointed  a  day  of 
humiliation  for  the  Indian  business  ;  so  we  are 
to  humble  ourselves  to-day,  and  make  uj)  for  it 
next  week  by  sending  a  few  thousands  of  our 
fellow-creatures  into  the  next  world." 

On  a  similar  subject  he  enlarges  at  more 
length  in  a  following  letter  : — 

"  I  see  you  have  been  having  a  great  day  of 
humiliation.  I  am  very  strongly  opposed  to  this, 
as  very  derogatory  to  God  and  reflecting  upon 
His  love.  He  has  created  a  universe  with  cer- 
tain laws ;  all  violation  of  these  laws  implies 
misery — a  misery  which  is  ordained  to  teach  men 


220  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

to  improve  themselves.  The  child  trying  to  walk 
tumbles  and  hurts  its  nose.  It  was  no  judgment 
on  the  child  that  it  fell  :  it  was  a  wise  law  that 
provided  a  misery,  and  its  humiliation  consisted 
in  keeping  its  legs  straight  for  the  future.  It  is 
a  mockery  to  say  you  are  sorry,  and  go  and  do 
the  same  again  ;  and  a  sin  to  think  that  God 
acts  by  fits  and  starts  as  we  do,  with  a  judg- 
ment here  and  there,  as  if  the  whole  thing  was 
not  obedient  to  fixed  and  certain  laws.  The  gen- 
eral notion  is  that  you  are  appeasing  an  angry 
Deity,  which  is  the  worst  of  all." 

It  is  curious  that  this  very  hancd  though  plau- 
sible view  of  national  prayer,  the  frequent  utter- 
ance of  the  superficial  thinker,  had  been  already 
met  and  answered  by  himself  in  the  individual 
point  of  view  a  few  letters  before,  as  above 
quoted.  After  so  many  details  of  these  opinions 
as  to  the  demerits  of  Christians  and  merit  of 
Christianity,  and  his  own  uncomfortable  sub- 
stitution of  the  one  for  the  other,  which  is  ver}^ 
much  what  they  come  to,  the  reader  will  be 
refreshed  by  his  thoughts  upon  another  subject 
— one,  too,  of  the  greatest  importance  to  him 
in  after-life,  and  of  which  it  is  apparent  here  he 
already  held  the  germ.  His  mother's  letter  had 
informed   him   of  the    death   of  their   friend   Dr 


DEATH.  221 

Clark,  which  he  says  gave  him  at  first  a  painful 
shock  : — 

"  We  have  heen  so  accustomed  to  surround 
death  with  horrors,  and  to  be  selfish  in  our  sor- 
row, that  news  of  the  departure  from  the  world 
of  any  one  we  love  gives  us  quite  a  different 
feeling  from  what  it  ought.  No  doubt  this  partly 
arises  from  an  uncertainty  whether  we  shall  ever 
meet  again,  and  a  want  of  faith  in  the  love  of 
God,  who,  I  feel  certain,  will  never  separate 
people  for  long  who  love  one  another.  In  the 
meantime,  I  have  no  doubt  Tom  is  often  present 
with  us,  it  is  possible  exercising  some  influence 
for  good  over  our  lives  ;  at  all  events,  the  loss  is 
only  on  our  side,  and  that  for  a  short  time  :  so 
that  I  cannot  talk  of  poor  Tom,  or  call  the  news 
sad — I  only  feel  the  very  earthly  feeling  of  regret 
that  when  I  get  back  I  shall  not  see  his  dear 
kind  old  face,  or  hear  his  favourite  greeting,  into 
which  he  used  to  throw  so  much  love  and  in- 
terest, of  '  Well,  boy  ! '  The  very  feeling  which 
will  perhaps  make  the  tears  come  into  your  eyes 
as  you  read  this,  as  they  have  into  mine  as  I 
write,  only  shows  what  a  softening  influence  love 
is.  and  what  a  beautifying  effect  it  would  have 
on  our  lives  if  we  could  feel  more  universally  for 
our  fellow -creatures  what  we  feel  for  Tom." 


222  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

In  a  similar  way  he  discusses  the  feeUng  of 
thankfuhiess  for  his  escape  from  drowning,  of 
which  he  tells  her  : — 

"  As  far  as  you  are  concerned,  I  often  think 
if  I  have  a  narrow  shave  that  it  is  perfectly 
legitimate  the  feeling  should  he  one  of  thank- 
fulness. I  should  feel  the  same  ahout  you,  but 
not  about  myself.  The  reason  I  feel  it  about 
you,  and  you  about  me,  is  because  we  are  both 
selfish  in  respect  to  one  another ;  but  thankful- 
ness on  the  part  of  the  individual  himself  at 
beinof  saved  from  death  seems  to  me  the  most 
wretched  mundane  sentiment  possible,  to  say 
nothing  of  its  being  dishonouring  to  God.  If 
we  are  always  thankful  for  being  kept  alive,  it  is 
very  evident  that  we  must  regard  His  qlispensa- 
tion  of  death  as  a  hardship  to  be  disgusted  with 
whenever  it  comes.  As  if  He  were  not  to  be 
trusted  to  keep  us  in  this  world  or  send  us  to  the 
next  in  His  own  good  time  I  I  am  not  in  the 
least  a  fatalist :  I  should  struggle  in  the  water  to 
the  last  gasp  ;  but  when  it  did  come,  as  I  feel 
now,  I  should  be  perfectly  satisfied.  I  have 
the  most  unbounded  confidence  in  the  universal 
economy  of  things,  and  I  don't  like  implying 
that  God  could  be  guilty  of  an  act  of  caprice  or 
injustice  by  being  thankful  for  His  sparing  me, 


THE  GERMS  OF  FUTURE  BELIEF.       223 

when,  if  He  did  not,  I   should  not  be   entitled 
to  complain." 

Nothing  can  be  more  interesting  than  these 
indications  of  the  way  in  which  the  thoughts  of 
the  young  man,  amid  surroundings  so  little  con- 
genial to  any  prolonged  process  of  thinking,  were 
occupied.  It  would  be  vain  to  pretend  that  they 
were  either  original  or  profound  ;  indeed  they  are 
throughout  pervaded  by  the  curious  confusion 
between  Christianity  as  a  religious  system  and 
the  shortcomings  of  its  professors, — as  if  it  w^ere 
incumbent  upon  a  thinking  man  to  abjure  the 
faith  in  order  to  protest  against  the  faults  of 
those  who  failed  to  obey  it,  which  we  have 
already  pointed  out.  But  they  are  interesting 
as  showing  how  early  and  how  independently  the 
germs  which  were  so  to  develop  in  after-life  had 
gained  possession  of  his  mind.  His  views  upon 
that  inspiration,  which  was  the  same  as  intuition, 
and  the  consequent  subjection  of  every  actual 
truth  to  the  feeling  and  instinct  of  the  believer  ; 
his  determination  that  every  influence  should 
be  judged  according  to  its  practical  power  over 
himself — even  his  views  in  respect  to  the  parting 
of  death,  and  the  attitude  we  ought  to  hold  to- 
wards it, — are  all  germs  of  the  faith  which  after- 
wards led  him  to  so  many  singular  steps.     They 


224  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

are  interesting  in  this  respect  as  well  as  for 
themselves, — unusual  matter  to  occupy  the  mind 
of  a  young  man  in  his  circumstances.  He  was 
approaching  his  twenty -ninth  birthday,  and  his 
life  hitherto  had  been  one  of  almost  wild  adven- 
ture, continual  movement,  and  restless  occupation. 
On  the  other  hand,  however,  there  was  plenty 
of  adventure  to  record.  He  took  a  share  in 
everything,  whatever  was  going  on.  When  a 
flag  of  truce  was  sent  up  the  Canton  river  with 
Lord  Elgin's  ultimatum,  he  volunteered,  as  has 
been  said,  for  the  duty  ;  and  though  he  agreed 
that  it  was  better  left  in  the  hands  of  Wade,  who 
was  a  Chinese  scholar,  than  in  his  own,  yet  he 
"  begged  hard,"  as  he  says,  to  have  the  errand. 
When  Captain  Sherard  Osborn  went  off  in  the 
Furious  to  Manilla,  Laurence  got  permission  to 
accompany  him,  to  vary  the  monotony  of  the  long- 
waiting  at  Hong-Kong;  but  here  a  difficulty 
arose.  "  Sherard  Osborn,"  he  writes,  "  is  the 
fellow  whom  I  pitched  into  so  furiously  at  the 
Geographical  about  the  Sea  of  AzoflP,  so  I  may  not 
get  him  to  take  me  ; "  but  Captain  Osborn  was 
magnanimous,  and  did  not  recall  this  old  score. 
The  most  amusing  thing  in  the  journey  is  the 
description  of  High  Mass  in  the  cathedral  at 
Manilla,  which  "  was  a  most  grotesque  perform- 
ance." 


A    MUSICAL    MASS.  225 

"  The  troops  marched  Into  church,  filling"  nearly 
the  whole  of  it,  and  six  men  with  swords  drawn 
took  up  a  jDOsition  on  the  altar  platform  to 
present  arms  to  the  priest.  The  band  was 
immediately  below  this,  and  opened  proceedings 
with  a  very  pretty  deux  -  temps  waltz.  They 
principally  played  polkas  and  waltzes,  sometimes 
kneeling,  sometimes  standing, — the  men  crossing 
themselves  in  quick  time,  making  a  sort  of  polka 
step  on  their  faces  with  wonderful  rapidity.  I 
tried  crossing  myself  in  quick  time,  but  made  a 
mess  of  it.  The  whole  thing  lasted  about  half 
an  hour,  and  consisted  entirely  of  music.  The 
officiating  priest  was  a  black  man,  who  never  said 
anything,  and  only  occasionally  elevated  the 
Host,  and  turned  round  to  bless  the  congregation 
in  pantomime." 

After  long  inaction  and  various  attempts  at 
negotiation,  the  united  forces  found  themselves 
compelled  to  proceed  to  the  bombardment  of 
Canton,  which  was  taken  with  the  greatest  of 
ease  and  the  utmost  rapidity,  scarcely  any  re- 
sistance being  made.  Laurence  and  some  of  the 
other  non  -  combatants  watched  the  proceedings 
from  an  eminence  close  by,  on  a  hill  used  as  a 
cemetery,  where  they  found  "  shelter  from  the 
flying   balls    in    a    deep    little    grave."        "  Un- 

VOL.    I.  P 


226  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

fortunately,"  he  says,  "  the  very  imperfection 
of  their  modes  of  defence  is  the  greatest 
danger  in  Chinese  warfare.  If  you  are  alone 
in  the  midst  of  a  silent  turnip  -  field,  you  are 
as  likely  to  be  hit  as  if  you  were  immediately 
under  the  walls  with  an  attacking  party,  for  they 
have  no  idea  of  taking  aim,  and  their  rockets  go 
shying  about  in  all  conceivable  directions."  He 
had  seen  "  a  brave  young  fellow  killed  by  one 
of  these  wild  j)rojectiles  within  five  or  six  yards 
of  him,"  but  still  it  was  difficult  to  believe  there 
was  any  danger,  they  were  so  few  and  far 
between. 

"  This  sort  of  thing  went  on  until  half-past 
eight,  when  the  Braves  made  an  attack  on  our 
extreme  right,  of  which  we  had  a  caj)ital  view  ; 
but  we  were  soon  diverted  from  looking  at  this 
by  the  cheers  in  front,  and  we  saw  the  scaling- 
ladders  up,  and  our  fellows  clustering  like  bees 
into  a  hive.  We  immediately  bolted  down  to  join 
them,  and  in  five  minutes  stood  upon  the  city 
wall,  deserted  by  every  vestige  of  a  Chinaman, 
except  those  that  were  lying  dead  along  the 
parapet.  We  had  a  magnificent  view  of  the 
vast  city,  with  its  million  of  inhabitants,  at  our 
feet,  not  showing  a  sign  of  life.  Not  a  living 
creature  was    to   be   seen   throughout  its  whole 


THE    LIMITS    OF    SELF-DENIAL.  227 

extent.  The  streets,  to  be  sure,  are  so  narrow 
that  you  can't  see  far  into  them  ;  but  when  you 
did,  you  only  saw  dead  or  occasionally  wounded 
people.  I  went  down  with  the  General  to  the 
other  end  of  the  wall,  a  mile  and  a  half  distant, 
where  they  were  potting  at  our  fellows  from  the 
tops  of  houses,  and  while  I  was  there  poor  Bower 
of  the  59th  was  wounded — I  fear  mortally.  How- 
ever, it  was  their  last  effort.  We  made  this  our 
advanced  post  in  this  direction.  I  wanted  to  get 
back  with  all  my  news  to  Lord  Elgin.  I  took 
advantage  of  a  party  going  to  open  up  a  new 
communication,  got  down  to  the  river,  and  was 
on  board  the  Furious  in  time,  as  you  know,  to 
catch  the  post  by  about  five  minutes." 

He  defends  himself  some  time  later,  when  he 
has  had  time  to  receive  letters  from  home  blam- 
ing him  for  thus  unnecessarily  exposing  himself 
at  Canton,  in  an  amusing  way.  He  was  wrong, 
he  allows.  "  But  it  involves  a  greater  act  of 
self-denial  than  any  I  know  to  refrain  from  going 
to  see  anything  approaching  to  a  fight.  And 
though  in  principle  I  utterly  disapprove  of  war, 
when  it  comes  to  '  Away  there,  second  cutters  ! ' 
human  nature  can't  resist  jumping  in,  whatever 
good  resolutions  one  may  have  formed  to  the 
contrary." 


228  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

It  Is  unnecessary  to  follow  the  course  of  the 
expedition,  which  was  still  exposed  to  extra- 
ordinary delays,  even  after  this  aj^parently  de- 
cisive step.  Laurence  cannot  refrain  from  a 
temptation  still  greater  than  that  of  war- 
fare —  a  little  abuse  of  the  spirit  of  revenge, 
which  he  found  so  strongly  developed  among 
so-called  religious  persons.  He  tells  his  mother 
that  the  missionaries  at  Shanghai,  where  the 
expedition  went  after  reducing  Canton  to  the 
most  prostrate  subjection,  were  revolted  by  the 
mildness  of  Lord  Elgin's  measures.  "  Like  Lord 
Shaftesbury,  they  are  truly  English,  and  grumble 
at  our  not  having  murdered  Yeh  and  given 
Canton  over  to  pillage  and  slaughter.  As  a 
general  rule,  one  thinks  that  justice  ought  to 
be  tempered  with  mercy  ;  but  they  would  have 
vengeance  tempered  with  justice  !  "  It  is  well  to 
add,  however,  that  the  "  parson  with  a  Crimean 
medal  pinned  on  his  surplice,"  who  had  made  him 
angry  by  preaching  on  hell,  turned  out  "  a  very 
nice  fellow  "  when  they  watched  Canton  together 
from  amona:  the  tombs.  But  Laurence  was  little 
favourable  to  missionaries  in  general,  and  felt 
with  many  others  that  the  good  incomes,  good 
houses,  and  worldly  comfort  of  men  who  were 
supposed  to  be  sacrificing  everything  for  Christ's 
work,    were    jarring    circumstances,    to    say   the 


THE    JESUITS    AND    THE    MISSIONARIES.  229 

least.  His  comparison  between  the  Jesuit  schools 
at  Shanufhai  and  those  of  the  Protestant  mis- 
sionaries  was  perhaps  touched  with  the  same 
prejudice,  yet  no  doubt  had  truth  in  it.  Of 
the  first,  he  says  : — 

"  I  was  struck  with  the  intelligent  expression 
of  the  youths'  countenances,  and  the  apparent 
affection  they  had  for  their  teachers.  Instead 
of  cramming  nothing  but  texts  down  their 
throats,  they  teach  them  the  Chinese  classics, 
Confucius,  &c.,  so  as  to  enable  them  to  compete 
in  the  examinations.  The  result  is,  that  even 
if  they  do  not  become  Christians,  they  have  al- 
ways gratitude  enough  to  protect  those  to  whom 
they  owed  their  education,  and  perhaps  conse- 
quent rise  in  life.  I  also  went  over  a  school 
with  the  Bishop.  The  contrast  was  most  strik- 
ing. Small  boys  gabbled  the  Creed  over  in 
what  was  supposed  to  be  English  ;  but  in  one 
instance  Lord  Elgin  was  profoundly  persuaded 
it  was  Chinese.  They  understood  probably  about 
as  clearly  as  they  pronounced.  Then,  instead  of 
the  missionaries  living  among  them  and  identify- 
ing themselves  with  the  boys,  they  have  gor- 
geous houses,  wives,  and  families.  A  missionary 
here  with  a  wife  and  four  children  gets  a  house 
as   big   as    Sjjring    Grove    rent    free,    and    £500 


230  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

a-year  :  and  that  is  called  giving  up  all  for  the 
sake  of  the  heathen  !  " 

The  difficulties  under  which  the  expedition  had 
to  be  carried  out  throw  a  curious  light  upon  the 
hindrances,  unsuspected  by  the  general  public,  to 
which  even  the  most  important  public  work  is 
exposed.  Thus  Ijetween  two  and  three  months 
were  lost  at  Hong-Kong,  while  the  forces  sent  out 
from  England  to  replace  those  carried  off  to  India 
were  on  the  way.  And  again,  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Peiho  the  whole  mission  was  arrested  for  a 
month  by  the  blunder  or  obstinacy  of  the 
admirals,  who  would  not  furnish  gunboats  which 
could  cross  the  bar  and  ascend  the  river.  I  may 
quote  one  amusing  incident  of  the  subjection  of 
the  town  of  Tientsin,  in  which  the  private  nar- 
rative of  the  letters  is  even  more  picturesque 
than  that  afterwards  published.  The  town  had 
capitulated,  but  was  unfriendly  and  apt  to  do 
or  say  something  disagreeable  Avhen  occasion 
served.  Thus  two  of  the  captains  of  the  fleet 
were  insulted  on  a  visit  they  paid,  without  escort 
or  alarm,  to  some  of  the  shops  and  streets.  A 
detachment  of  a  hundred  marines  was  sent  to 
punish  the  offenders,  but  on  reaching  the  town 
found  the  gates  closed  against  them.  Laurence, 
generally  to   be  found  by  some    lucky   accident 


TAKING    A    TOWN.  231 

wherever   anything  was   going   on,    had    accom- 
panied them  on  horseback. 

"  Osborn  and  I,  however,  discovered  a  scalable 
place  where  a  house  was  built  against  the  wall ;  so 
we  took  three  blue-jackets,  and  with  Drew  got  on 
the  roof  and  thus  scrambled  on  to  the  wall,  the 
bricks  being  decayed  so  as  to  give  us  something 
to  hold  to.  Then  with  bayonets  and  revolvers 
drawn  we  rushed  down  with  a  frantic  yell  ujDon 
the  unsuspecting  crowd  collected  at  the  gate, 
thinking  they  had  succeeded  in  barring  us  out. 
They  took  to  their  heels,  struck  to  a  panic  by  the 
six  barbarians,  and  we  smashed  the  bar  of  the 
gate  and  let  the  warriors  in,  with  whom  we 
paraded  the  town,  making  six  prisoners  at  the 
place  where  the  outrage  was  committed." 

The  commissioners  from  the  Emperor,  obtained 
after  much  difficulty  to  settle  the  treaty,  which 
for  the  first  time  admitted  foreign  traders,  as  a 
right,  to  the  Celestial  Empire,  met  Lord  Elgin 
at  this  town, — Laurence  in  the  meanwhile  hav- 
ing been  much  occupied  in  "  collecting  from  old 
treaties  and  other  sources  all  the  points "  that 
could  be  employed  in  the  new.  The  other 
special  missions  upon  which  Laurence  was  him- 
self engaged — such  as  that  to  Soochow,  Nankin, 


232  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

and  some  others — are  fully  recorded  in  his  book. 
The  private  narrative  adds  little,  except  on  the 
former  occasion  an  account  of  his  troubles  with 
a  vapouring  French  consul,  who  was  the  adviser 
of  his  colleague  the  French  secretary,  but  exceed- 
ingly unpopular  as  well  as  injudicious.  Having 
achieved  the  treaty,  the  expedition  went  to 
Japan,  returning  to  Shanghai  and  Canton  for 
the  final  ratification.  In  the  hurried  and  brief 
visit  to  Japan  there  was  nothing  but  pleasurable 
excitement  before  them, — the  first  discovery,  so 
to  speak,  of  a  wonderful  new  nation,  the  wonder 
and  enio-ma  of  modern  times.  In  the  second 
volume  of  Laurence's  '  Narrative '  there  will  be 
found  full  details  of  this  visit ;  but  in  his  letters 
it  has  very  little  space,  partly,  I  think,  because, 
like  all  the  rest  of  the  mission,  he  had  become 
very  tired  of  his  banishment,  and  in  the  hope  of 
a  speedy  return  home  put  ofi"  his  descriptions  of 
the  unknown  country  till  he  should  be  able  to 
give  them  by  word  of  mouth.  "  We  were  all 
enchanted  with  Japan,"  he  says,  writing  from 
Shanghai  on  their  return. 

''Sept.  1,  1858. 

"  At  Sinoden  we  heard  from  the  American 
consul  that  in  consequence  of  the  moral  effect 
of  our  having  forced  the  Chinamen  into  a  treaty. 


JAPAN.  233 

he  had  just  been  able  to  conclude  one  at  Yeddo  ; 
so  we  proceeded  there,  and  the  Japanese  saw  for 
the  first  time  in  their  lives  four  foreign  ships 
anchor  off  the  capital.  They  were  most  civil,  and 
gave  us  a  capital  lodging  on  shore  in  a  temple. 
Six  commissioners  were  appointed  to  treat,  and  I 
never  ceased  regretting  that  you  had  prevented 
me  from  learning  Dutch  at  the  Cape  in  consider- 
ation of  my  morals,  though  I  daresay  I  should 
have  forgotten  it — as  it  was  the  only  medium  of 
communication  here,  and  we  had  to  make  use  of 
the  American  interpreter.  I  had  a  considerable 
finger  in  the  pie  nevertheless,  Lord  Elgin  very 
kindly  letting  me  take  as  prominent  a  place  as 
circumstances  would  permit.  The  commissioners 
were  capital  fellows,  and  so  different  from  the 
Chinese,  so  full  of  animation  and  life,  and  very 
go-ahead.  They  are  the  most  good  -  temjDered 
people  I  ever  met,  and  Japan  is  the  only  country 
I  was  ever  in  where  there  is  no  poverty  and 
beggars  are  unknown.  Much  as  I  should  hate 
going  to  China  in  any  capacity,  I  would  willingly 
go  to  Japan,  and  I  am  sure,  were  I  to  get  the 
appointment  of  Consul-General  there,  you  and 
papa  would  like  it.  Of  course  all  this  has  fur- 
nished me  with  plenty  of  material  for  my  book." 

His  mind,  it  must  be  added,  was  at  this  mo 


234  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

ment,  as  the  work  of  the  mission  was  nearly  over, 
again  much  occupied  by  thoughts  of  a  permanent 
appointment.  One  of  those  which  were  spoken  of 
was  the  appointment  of  Governor  of  the  Straits 
Settlements,  to  which  he  was  inclined  ;  but  it  is 
evident  that  he  would  gladly  have  accepted  any 
fitting  post  in  his  anxiety  to  attain  a  settled  posi- 
tion in  life.  To  be  Secretary  of  Legation  at  a 
foreign  capital  would  have  been  in  some  respects 
still  more  congenial.  A  wife,  which  he  had  for 
years  decided  half  in  jest  and  half  in  earnest  to 
be  the  first  necessity  of  all,  is  also  spoken  of  On 
the  other  hand,  "  I  sometimes  think  I  will  throw 
up  all  my  present  ambitions,  try  and  find  some 
one  with  three  or  four  hundred  a-year,  and  settle 
down  in  a  small  way  at  a  European  capital  to 
work  out  my  own  problems.  After  all,"  he  adds, 
"  there  is  no  such  happiness  as  living  in  one's  own 
world  of  thought.  At  present  my  thoughts  run 
on  aniseed,  almonds,  beans,  heche  cle  mer,  and  so 
on  through  all  the  tariflf.  What  ennobling  and 
elevating  subjects  for  contemplation  ! "  At  the 
moment  when  he  thus  expressed  himself,  he  was 
discussing  point  by  point  with  the  Chinese  Com- 
missioners the  details  of  duties  and  imports,  and 
very  weary  of  his  work. 

The  snatches  of  gaiety  which  broke  the  routine 
of  tedious  life  furnish  some  amusing  incidents  to 


OCCASIONAL    GAIETIES.  235 

the  narrative,  but  very  often  are  weighted  with  a 
moral,  and  many  assaults  upon  the  manners  of 
the  mercantile  communities.  At  one  place  the 
ball  came  to  its  conclusion  in  an  effective  surprise. 
"  Lord  Elofin  and  I  finished  with  a  reel  for  the 
edification  of  the  public,  took  a  tender  farewell 
of  society,  and  embarked  during  the  small  hours 
of  the  morning,  so  that  when  the  world  awoke 
next  day  we  were  no  more  to  l)e  seen."  At  an- 
other place  the  company  was  devote,  and  a  differ- 
ent kind  of  entertainment  was  necessary. 

"  The  King-  of  Denmark's  fiddler  has  been  here, 
and  we  had  music  and  singing  for  Mrs  M.  and  other 
non-dancing  ladies  ;  but  when  they  left  we  danced 
till  a  late  hour.  Lord  Elgin  stumped  Mrs  M. 
by  asking  if  that  were  not  the  time  for  dancing 
mentioned  by  Solomon,  and  what  hour  of  the  day 
she  thought  he  would  approve  ?  She  denied  that 
he  said  there  was  a  time  for  dancing,  but  has 
since  found  chapter  and  verse,  and  has  given  in, 
but  evidently  thinks  Solomon  was  wrong.  The 
Bishop  and  his  wife  are  becoming  dabs  at  bil- 
liards ;  but  the  other  night  when  the  missionaries 
were  dining'  he  would  not  allow  the  billiard-room 
to  be  lighted,  though  he  is  generally  the  last  to 
leave  it.  Woe  unto  you  Evangelists  and  Pusey- 
ites,  hypocrites  !     To   abstain  from  dancing,  and 


236  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

love  to  be  seen  in  fine  bonnets  at  church,  and  at 
the  head  of  subscription  hsts  ostentatiously  [here 
follows  a  long  tirade].  .  .  .  There  is  a  sudden 
explosion  for  you,  which  has  taken  me  as  much  by 
surprise  as  you.  Poor  Bishop  !  I  don't  mean  to 
abuse  him.  I  think  by  the  way  he  button-holes 
me,  and  talks  confidential  platitudes  to  me  in 
corners,  that  he  rather  likes  me.  He  constantly 
excuses  the  missionaries  for  going  into  the  country 
against  treaty,  &c. ,  though  I  carefully  refrain  from 
reflecting  on  them  ;  so  I  suppose  it  is  his  own  con- 
science. I  believe  he  is  a  good  man.  He  confirms 
to-day  a  lot  of  middies  who  have  been  prepared 
for  the  ceremony  by  our  convivial  parson,  and  who, 
though  nice  young  fellows,  are  some  of  them  such 
scamps  that  their  sponsors  must  be  immensely 
relieved  by  the  load  that  will  be  lifted  from 
their  shoulders." 

Laurence  is  never  happier  than  when  he  sends 
a  flying  shaft  thus  at  the  "  worldly  holy,"  against 
whom  afterwards,  in  '  Piccadilly,'  he  poured  forth 
his  keenest  satire.  He  tells  his  mother  after- 
wards that  he  had  nearly  embroiled  himself  with 
the  lady  mentioned  above,  for  laughing  at  a 
society  for  Biblical  discussion  among  the  ladies, 
one  member  of  which  had  distinguished  Bishop 
Heber  as  a  descendant  of  Heber  the  Kenite.     "  I 


li 


WORSE    THAX    A    COLONY.  237 


said  that  as  a  lawyer  I  was  superior  to  all  clergy 
as  an  interpreter  of  texts,  and  suggested  that  I 
should  be  elected  permanent  referee  to  the  ladies — 
with  other  foolish  nonsense,"  he  writes,  repentant, 
having  made  his  peace.  But  the  society  of  these 
seaports,  "  worse  than  a  colony,"  as  he  says,  grew 
more  and  more  intolerable  to  him  as  the  days  lin- 
gered on.  "  The  men  think  of  nothing  but  tea. 
silk,  and  ojDium  ;  the  women  are  too  apathetic  to 
care  even  for  gaiety  and  crinoline.  We  are  going 
to  make  a  spasmodic  attempt  to  amuse  them  with 
a  ball ;  but  Fitzroy  is  in  despair,  for  only  eight 
ladies  have  accepted  and  120  men  !  " 

Meanwhile  his  metaphysical  thinkings  and 
readings  go  on,  and  he  has  a  mingled  disap- 
pointment and  delight  in  finding  the  meta- 
physical and  religious  work  he  had  intended 
to  produce  forestalled  by  Mr  William  Smith's 
'  Thorndale,'  in  which  he  has  been  "  revellino-," 
and  which  "  represents  my  own  ideas  and  con- 
dition of  mind  better  than  anything  I  could  my- 
self give."  "  Mind  you  read  every  word  of  it  to 
papa,"  he  repeats,  "  and  think  over  it  the  while, 
and  of  me,  when  you  read  the  chapter  called 
'  Childhood,'  as  I  did  of  you." 

He  is  afterwards  astonished  and  delighted, 
"  after  what  I  wrote  to  you  about  '  Thorndale,' 
that  just  as  I  should  be  making  you  a  present  of 


238  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

a  copy  of  it,  I  should  receive  one  with  your  dear 
handwriting  on  the  title-page  ! "  Another  book 
which  he  had  read  with  pleasure  was  a  very 
different  one,  Miss  Marsh's  '  Hearts  and  Hands,' 
an  account  of  her  mission  among  the  navvies. 
He  wonders,  not  unnaturally,  whether  his  com- 
plicated religious  system  would  have  any  influ- 
ence upon  such  people  ;  but  comforts  himself  by 
the  thought  that  a  complicated  system  need  not 
be  less  true  than  a  simpler  one,  and  that  those 
who  act  by  reason  are  less  likely  to  be  back- 
sliders than  those  who  are  moved  by  enthusiasm. 
Their  progress  may  be  slow,  but  it  is  sure. 

"  In  my  own  case  it  is  awfully  slow  ;  but  then 
consider  the  difficulty  of  having  to  build  away  for 
one's  self  and  fight  against  prejudice  existing  in 
every  form  around,  and  compare  my  condition 
with  that  of  the  worldly  man  who  becomes  a 
'  converted  Christian.'  He  flings  himself  at  once 
into  the  religious  world,  where  he  is  supported 
and  taught  and  cared  for,  his  difficulties  explained 
and  his  faith  strengthened,  and  sails  smoothly 
and  easily  down  the  stream.  To  put  it  in  the 
form  of  an  equation,  he  is  to  me  as  is  a  Roman 
Catholic  to  him.  He  thinks  the  Roman  Catholic 
has  his  religion  done  for  him,  I  think  the  Prot- 
estant has  his  religion  done  for  him.     So  different 


"setting  up  his  reason."  239 

is  religion  in  these  days  from  what  it  was  in  the 
days  of  Christ,  that  the  worldly  man  does  not 
persecute  the  saint,  but  the  saint  persecutes  the 
worldly  man.  It  requires  infinitely  more  strength 
of  mind  and  moral  courage  to  come  out  from  the 
religious  world  and  to  be  separate,  than  to  come 
out  from  the  worldly  one." 

This  perpetual  assault  against  the  religious 
world  may  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  the 
exterior  conventionalities  of  that  world  had  been 
more  or  less  always  present,  overshadowing  his 
life,  until  the  young  man  emancipated  himself 
from  them.  It  would  have  been  perhaps  more 
wonderful  had  he  lived  to  perceive  nowadays 
that  in  many  circles  the  greatest  courage  and 
strength  of  mind  is  required  from  those  who  pro- 
fess any  belief  at  all.  He  defends  himself  once 
more  from  the  accusation  of  "  setting  wp  his 
reason,"  which  his  mother  had  brought  against 
him. 

"  You  must  remember  that  the  fact  that  we 
believe  many  things  we  don't  understand  does 
not  prove  that  when  we  don't  understand  a  thing 
we  should  believe  it.  We  have  only  our  reason 
to  decide  for  us  the  cases  in  which  it  voluntarily 
allows  itself  to  be  suspended.     It  preaches  faith 


240  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA, 

equally  in  your  case  as  in  mine,  only  I  require 
stronger  grounds  to  influence  me  than  you  do. 
But  I  think  that  it  is  a  mistake  to  hold  on 
to  it  too  long.  I  have  long  since  taken  refuge 
in  my  intuitions." 

E-eason,  tempered  by  intuition,  was  thus  the 
rule  to  which  he  had  attained,  alone  and  without 
spiritual  guidance  of  any  kind.  The  reader  will 
perceive  that  thus  the  doors  of  his  heart  were 
wide  open,  so  that  any  interpreter  who  com- 
mended himself,  if  that  were  possible,  to  both, 
might  enter  in. 

His  return  home  after  this,  the  longest  absence 
from  his  parents  which  he  had  ever  undergone, 
was  a  very  mournful  one.  For  the  dear  "  Papa," 
whom  he  rarely  called  by  any  but  that  tender 
childish  title,  died  suddenly  a  short  time  before 
the  expedition  came  back.  It  Avas,  I  think,  at 
one  of  the  ports  of  Ceylon — a  place  so  associated 
with  him  —  that  Laurence  received  the  news. 
Sir  Anthony's  death  was  entirely  unexjDected, 
and  occurred,  I  believe,  at  a  dinner-party  to 
which  he  had  gone  in  his  usual  health.  I  have 
been  told  that,  being  at  sea  at  the  time,  Laurence 
came  on  deck  one  morning  and  informed  his 
comrades  that  he  had  seen  his  father  in  the 
night,   and   that    he   was   dead  —  that   they  en- 


DEATH    OF    HIS    FATHER.  241 

deavoured  to  laug-h  him  out  of  the  impression, 
but  in  vain.  The  date  was  taken  down,  and 
on  their  arrival  in  England  it  was  found  that 
Sir  Anthony  Oliphant  had  indeed  died  on  that 
night — which  would  be  a  remarkable  addition, 
if  sufficiently  confirmed,  to  many  stories  of  a 
similar  kind  which  are  well  known.  He  always 
appears  in  his  son's  letters  and  in  his  wife's 
in  the  mos't  eng-ao-ino-  lio-ht  —  a  cheerful  and 
bright  spirit  interested  in  everything  about 
him,  as  curious  of  novelty  and  excitement  as 
his  own  son  was,  delighting  to  find  himself 
in  the  heart  of  everything  that  was  going 
on.  The  jokes  about  "  the  darling,"  in  which 
he  indulged  in  the  earlier  Colombo  days,  half 
hiding  under  a  humorous  pretence  at  jealousy 
the  delight  and  pride  in  the  beloved  boy,  which 
he  felt  as  warmly  as  the  mother  did,  and  his 
readiness  to  follow  Lowry  wherever  his  fortunes 
led  him,  are  as  lovable  and  delightful  as  is  the 
confidence  of  Laurence  in  papa's  comprehension 
and  sympathy  and  the  charm  of  his  companion- 
ship. The  mother  and  son  discuss  him  indeed 
sometimes  as  mothers  and  children  will  do,  as  if 
he  were  a  big  schoolboy,  whose  pranks  are  charm- 
ing, but  whose  health  and  comfort  has  to  be 
looked  after  by  more  careful  heads  than  his  own  ; 
but  in  his  judgment   on  serious  matters   his  son 

VOL.    I.  Q 


242  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

had  always  the  fullest  reliance,  and  the  highest 
testimony  his  wife  could  give  to  the  excellence  of 
the  new  tenets  she  adopted  in  later  days  was 
that  "  our  beloved  Sir  Anthony "  would  have 
found  comfort  in  them. 

He  would  not  seem,  however,  to  have  exer- 
cised much  guidance,  but  rather  to  have  allowed 
himself  genially  to  follow  Avhere  his  boy's  er- 
ratic steps  led  —  now  to  the  Crimea,  now  to 
the  Stirling  burghs,  where  papa's  electioneering 
was  most  lively  and  active.  The  only  "  No  " 
which  seems  ever  recorded  of  him  is  when  Lau- 
rence, young  and  sanguine,  made  a  demand  for 
money  to  invest  in  America — to  which  Sir  An- 
thony replied  with  the  dry  but  admirable  advice 
that  his  son  should  save  anything  he  could  from 
his  official  salary  and  invest  that.  This  advice 
was  so  far  taken  that  Laurence  became  the  pos- 
sessor of  "  a  town  lot "  in  the  city  of  Superior,  of 
which  he  afterwards  made  the  admirable  use  of 
establishing  upon  it  a  friend  who  was  under  the 
shadow  of  severe  misfortune,  and  for  whom  a 
refuge  was  thus  obtained.  It  brought  in,  how- 
ever, save  in  this  way,  no  profit  to  its  proprietor. 

Sir  Anthony's  death  made  the  union  between 
mother  and  son  more  close  and  all-absorbing  than 
ever ;  but  it  did  not  bind  the  active  and  restless 
young  man  to   England,  a  result  for  which  his 


IMPATIENT    MERIT.  24 


o 


spirit  of  adventure  Is  not  alone  to  be  blamed. 
For  he  neglected  no  effort  to  establish  himself 
In  the  diplomatic  service  nearer  home,  and  It  is 
evident  that  it  was  the  prick  of  injured  feeling, 
the  sickness  at  heart  of  continual  disappointment, 
the  spurns  which  patient  merit  has  to  accept.  If 
not  of  the  unworthy,  at  least  of  the  official  world, 
which  drove  him  agfaln  and  ao^ain  from  EnMand. 
It  was  Indeed  impatient  merit  in  Ollphant's  case. 
He  would  not  wait  kicking  his  heels  outside  the 
doors  of  the  Colonial  or  Foreign  Office.  It  was  a 
necessity  with  him  to  be  doing,  if  not  one  thing- 
then  another.  Both  his  active  temperament  and 
the  state  of  his  mind  in  respect  to  religious  and 
other  matters  fomented  this  impatience.  He  ex- 
plains it  to  his  mother  by  the  following  excellent 
reasons,  while  also  apologising  to  her  for  not 
writing  of  his  "  interior,"  which  was  what  she 
always  most  desired  :  — 

"  So  long  as  I  have  anything  to  Interest  me,  I 
keep  myself  so  fully  occupied  and  usefully  em- 
ployed that  time  passes  pleasantly  and  profitably, 
and  I  do  not  compromise  myself;  but  when  I 
have  nothing  to  do  except  to  be  consistent  In 
hours  of  temptation  which  are  constantly  recur- 
ring, and  have  no  employment  to  absorb  me,  I 
go  with    the    stream,   having   an  utter  want   of 


244  THE   MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

self-denial.  I  find  the  only  substitute  is  occupa- 
tion, and  that  I  cannot  have  on  circuit,  as  it 
must  be  engrossing,  which  law  is  not.  The  con- 
sequence is,  that  I  am  in  low  spirits  unless  I  am 
actively  engaged." 

It  is  characteristic  of  his  breedino-  and  the 
perpetual  self-examinations  to  which  he  had  been 
made  to  subject  himself,  modified  into  a  curiously 
unusual  vein  by  the  originality  of  his  own  mind, 
that  he  should  go  on  from  this  into  a  lament  over 
the  incongruity  of  his  mental  and  moral  position  : 

"  I  find  it  impossible  to  divest  my  conversation 
and  conduct  of  that  frivolity  which  marks  the 
worldly  mind,  and  which  gives  the  lie  to  any 
sudden  outburst  of  morality  I  may  think  it  neces- 
sary to  assume.  Nobody  could  conceive  how 
deeply  I  feel  the  reality  and  truth  of  religion 
from  my  conduct,  considering  the  force  of  my 
convictions  and  the  occasional  earnestness  of  my 
prayers.  In  days  when  I  was  almost  insensible 
to  religion  of  any  sort,  or  had  any  principle  ex- 
cept my  love  for  you,  I  was  infinitely  less  cajDable 
of  evil  than  I  am  now ;  but  now  that  I  begin  to 
delight  in  the  love  of  God  after  the  inward  man, 
the  law  of  my  members  seems  moved  into  activity. 
As  this  said  law  always  gets  the  best  of  it,  you 


THE   WEAKNESS    OF    THE    FLESH.  245 

will  perceive  that  I  must  be  harassed  in  propor- 
tion as  the  struggle  is  great.  However,  I  could 
go  on  theorising  for  hours ;  and  now  that  I  come 
to  read  it  over,  I  daresay  it  is  all  humbug  from 
beginning  to  end,  and  that  is  another  reason  why 
I  don't  like  writing  this  sort  of  stuff.  How  am 
I  ever  to  be  satisfied,  after  analysing  my  feel- 
ingfs,  that  I  am  riMit  ?  It  seems  to  me  one  of  the 
most  fruitless  occupations  in  the  world.  It  does 
not  appear  to  me  that  the  human  mind  is  en- 
dowed with  faculties  adequate  to  the  task.  It 
instinctively  knows  its  own  weakness,  but  it  is 
not  competent  to  say  where  that  weakness  lies 
or  how  it  may  be  cured,  or  else  it  would  be 
competent  to  cure  it,  which  it  certainly  is  not. 
If  a  divine  power  is  necessary  to  overcome  the 
depravity  of  one's  human  nature,  a  divine  reve- 
lation is  necessary  to  enable  one  to  discern 
wherein  that  depravity  precisely  consists.  There- 
fore, as  I  said  before,  I  may  be  all  wrong,  with 
which  consideration  you  must  comfort  yourself; 
also  with  feeling  that  I  have  relieved  my  mind 
by  writing  all  this,  whether  it  is  nonsense  or 
not." 

One  cannot  but  feel  a  half-amused  sympathy 
for  the  mother,  thus  tantalised  by  revelations  in 
which  there  was  so  much  which  must  have  satis- 


24G  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

fied  her  craving  for  information  respecting  her 
son's  innermost  thoughts,  and  so  much  that  must 
have  puzzled  and  confounded  her.  How  far  did 
the  boy  mean  what  he  said  ?  and  how  far  was 
it  humbug,  as  he  says  ?  All  the  pages  of  theo- 
risino-  which  he  addressed  to  her — his  bold  criti- 
cisms  of  the  things  she  reverenced  most,  and 
breakings  -  off  into  new  paths — never,  however, 
discouraofed  her :  until  the  time  came  when  thev 
both  beheld  the  new  light,  as  it  seemed  to  them, 
together,  and  all  qualms  on  the  one  side  and  un- 
certainties on  the  other  were  swept  away. 

After  his  two  years'  service  in  China,  it  was 
natural  to  suppose  that  his  hoj)es  of  definite  and 
permanent  employment  would  have  been  realised  ; 
but  either  the  Foreign  Office  did  not  think  so,  or 
its  slowness  of  operation  and  prejudice  in  favour 
of  those  who  had  entered  its  service  in  the  usual 
way  made  its  authorities  impervious  to  the  claims 
of  the  brilliant  young  interlojaer,  who  had,  though 
so  successful  and  valuable  a  public  servant,  leaped 
into  the  service  rather  by  private  favour  of  a 
friendly  plenipotentiary  than  in  the  legitimate 
way.  At  all  events,  he  had  got  tired  of  waiting 
by  the  end  of  the  year,  and  in  the  early  beginning 
of  1860  we  find  him  plunged  into  a  new  excitement. 
Probably  he  had  remained  more  or  less  a  sympa- 
thiser with   Italy  since  the  time  when  he  took 


ON    REVOLUTION    INTENT.  247 

a  delighted  share  in  all  the  mischief  going 
on,  a  dozen  years  before,  when  he  was  a  boy 
travelling  with  his  parents ;  but  there  is  no 
indication  to  show  us  what  it  was  which  made 
him  suppose  that  he  could  do  something  to  stay 
the  course  of  events,  when  just  at  the  crisis  of 
the  fate  of  Nice  and  Savoy  he  rushed  out  of 
London  and  threw  himself  into  the  excitement 
of  Italian  politics  in  Turin — where  the  cession 
was  being  reluctantly  carried  through — and  Nice, 
where  he  actually  hoped  to  have  reversed  the 
order  of  things,  and  roused  the  languid  popula- 
tion to  resistance.  It  is  curious  to  find  him 
discussing  sentimental  methods  and  quoting  the 
'Biglow  Papers':  "I  don't  believe  in  principle, 
but  oh  I  du  in  interest ! "  in  respect  to  national 
action,  while  setting  out  on  the  most  romantic 
piece  of  knight-errantry  in  his  own  person.  His 
journey  to  Nice  and  Turin  had,  of  course,  two 
aspects ;  and  he  scarcely  discloses  even  in  his  de- 
lightful after-narrative,  published  when  all  neces- 
sity for  secrecy  was  over,  the  daring  hope  he  had 
of  becoming  himself  an  important  agent  in  the 
matter,  and  perhaps  saving  the  provinces  which 
Italy,  not  yet  consolidated  into  a  great  nation, 
was  compelled  to  sacrifice  to  her  great  and  noble 
aim.  To  ordinary  eyes  it  was  pure  love  of  ad- 
venture, tempered  by  the  pursuit  of  "copy"  and 


248  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

material  for  articles,  chiefly  in  '  Blackwood,'  which 
carried  him  forth ;  and  he  is  profuse  in  his  ex- 
planations to  his  mother  that  the  fifty  pounds 
he  would  make  by  two  articles  was  quite  justi- 
fication enough  for  the  brief  crusade,  lasting  only 
a  month,  u]Don  which  he  set  out  in  high  hopes. 

Leaving  Paris,  Laurence  found  himself,  to  his 
great  annoyance,  yet  amusement,  in  the  same 
carriage  "  with  some  frowsy  parties  enveloped  in 
tobacco-smoke,"  who  turned  out  to  be  the  very 
deputies  from  Nice,  returning  from  their  inter- 
view with  the  Emperor,  whom  he  was  bent  on 
overcoming ;  but  with  whom  he  became  so  friendly, 
picking  their  brains  of  any  political  secrets  to  be 
found  there,  that  he  was  taken  for  one  of  them 
by  an  official  who  came  to  the  railway  to  pay 
his  respects  to  the  deputation.  "  He  made  me 
a  low  bow,  which  I  returned  with  all  the  dignity 
becoming  a  man  who  has  just  sold  his  country." 
In  Savoy  he  found  enough  of  patriotic  feeling 
and  smoulderino-  undirected  enthusiasm  to  fill 
him  with  high  hopes ;  and  his  first  resolution, 
after  egging  up  these  local  patriots  to  resistance, 
was  to  write  letters  to  every  member  of  the  Par- 
liament in  Turin,  urging  them  to  delay  the  rati- 
fication of  the  treaty, — a  tremendous  step  to  be 
taken  by  a  young  man  on  his  own  responsibility. 
His    earnestness  and    conviction   that    something 


IN    TURIN.  249 

might  actually  be  done  In  this  way  was  not 
unmingled  with  levity.  "It  is  great  fun,"  he 
writes,  "  to  have  another  object  than  churches 
and  picture-galleries  ; "  but  he  was  not  the  less 
seriously  disappointed  and  humiliated  when  he 
found  that  things  had  gone  too  far,  and  that  all 
his  eloquence,  excitement,  and  inspiration  could 
not  produce  the  effects  he  had  desired. 

His  acquaintance  with  diplomatic  society  carried 
him  at  once  to  the  heart  of  affairs  in  Turin,  and 
made  him  acquainted  with  all  the  now  historical 
details  of  that  great  era  in  Italian  history.  He 
met  and  dined  with  Cavour,  whom  he  describes  as 
"  a  thick-set  solid  man,  with  a  large  square  head 
and  spectacles,  an  able,  mathematical,  practical 
sort  of  head,  without  chivalry,  principle,  or  genius," 
— a  harsh  judgment,  which  he  afterwards  saw  cause 
to  alter.  But  his  chief  Interest  was  Garibaldi,  by 
whose  aid  alone  any  operation  like  that  of  which 
he  dreamed  was  practicable.  The  Imj^atlence  of 
the  young  man,  used  to  constitutional  methods, 
and  conscious  of  the  efficacy  of  popular  agitation, 
with  the  still  bewildered  patriots,  who  were  quite 
unable  to  employ  such  new  tools.  Is  characteristic. 

"  Why  I  should  take  such  Intense  Interest  In 
affairs  that  don't  concern  me  I  don't  know,  except 
that  I  cannot  stand  by  and  see  a  good  cause  ruined. 


250  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

and  such  blackguards  as  the  Emperor  carrying 
all  before  him,  without  wagging  a  finger.  And 
these  people,  with  all  their  patriotism,  are  so 
childish  and  unpractical,  Garibaldi  worst  of  all. 
I  have  got  him  regularly  in  tow,  but  cannot  din 
the  only  practicable  plan  for  the  salvation  of  his 
country  into  his  head.  He  is  the  most  amiable, 
innocent,  honest  nature  possible,  and  a  first-rate 
guerilla  chief,  but  in  council  a  child.  The  worst 
of  him  is  that  he  puts  his  trust  in  anybody,  and 
unless  you  stick  to  him  you  lose  your  influence  ; 
but  he  has  a  name  with  the  people  that  may  be 
turned  to  any  account." 

The  zeal  of  the  young  self-sent  emissary  seems 
to  have  been  able  to  inspirit  the  drooping  party 
of  disconsolate  Nizzards  so  far  as  to  procure  the 
proposal  of  a  resolution  against  the  annexation, 
in  Parliament,  by  Garibaldi,  Laurence  himself 
drawinof  it  out.  But  "it  is  of  no  use,  I  feel 
certain,"  he  says  ;  "  they  can  neither  work  pop- 
ular movements  nor  parliamentary  tactics."  That 
the  malcontents  should  never  have  thought  of 
calling  a  public  meeting  at  Nice,  where  the 
people  might  have  expressed  their  feelings,  fills 
him  with  indignant  astonishment.  Failing  these 
constitutional  methods,  remained  the  romantic 
one   of   seizing-   and   breakino-   the    ballot  -  boxes 


AT   NICE.  251 

when  the  votes  were  collected,  so  as  to  make 
another  ballot  necessary,  and  thus  gain  a  little 
time,  which  would  seem  to  have  been  fully 
planned  by  the  energetic  young  revolutionary. 
But  this  promising  plan  was  abandoned  by  the 
distraction  of  Garibaldi's  thoughts  toward  Sicily, 
as  may  be  seen  in  the  '  Episodes.'  The  young 
man  promises  to  his  mother  to  "  keep  out  of  the 
row  "  ;  but  we  know  what  such  undertakings  come 
to  in  the  case  of  an  individual  who  had  confessed 
that  it  was  beyond  human  nature  to  hear  that 
a  fight  was  going  on,  and  not  rush  out  to  see 
it.  And  what  the  Foreign  Office  would  have 
thought  of  a  possible  Secretary  of  Legation 
breaking  the  ballot-boxes  at  the  head  of  a  party 
of  Garibaldian  red-shirts  it  would  not  be  difficult 
to  predict.  Thus,  perhaps,  according  to  his  pre- 
vailing conviction,  it  was  all  for  the  best  that 
he  should  have  been  compelled  to  add,  in  deep 
disappointment,  "  There  is  not  the  slightest  chance 
of  a  row — the  people  are  like  sheep." 

"  The  business  here  has  gone  off  with  the  usual 
flatness.  Still  I  am  glad  to  have  seen  it,  and  to 
have  known  the  villanies  that  have  been  perpe- 
trated under  the  pretext  of  universal  suffrage." 
The  whole  thing-  was  a  sham  of  the  most  trans- 
parent  character.  A  popular  leader  like  Gari- 
baldi oueiit  to  have  turned  the  tables.     A  little 


252  THE    MISSION   TO    CHINA. 

more  of  Walker  in  his  composition  would  have 
settled  the  matter."  Always  philosophical,  how- 
ever, and  remembering-  now  that  the  affairs  of 
Italy  did  not  really  concern  him  in  the  least, 
Laurence  consoled  himself  by  thoughts  of  the 
pounds  which  would  be  brought  in  by  two  articles 
in  '  Blackwood,'  which  were  more  than  his  expedi- 
tion had  cost  him  altogether. 

He  seems  to  have  travelled  much  this  year, 
since  we  hear  of  him  two  or  three  months  later 
in  Montenegro,  where  various  amusing  incidents 
happened  to  him,  related  in  the  '  Episodes ' ;  and 
after  that  in  Naples,  where  he  was  once  more 
received  by  Garibaldi,  by  that  time  victor  of 
Sicily,  and  about  to  round  out  the  new-formed 
Italian  kingdom  by  the  magnificent  present  of 
the  ancient  Regno,  the  only  royal  state  in  the 
peninsula.  Laurence  relates  that  he  was  accom- 
modated on  this  occasion  in  the  very  j)alace  and 
bedchamber  of  King  Bomba  himself,  "in  a  bed 
so  gorgeous  with  its  gold  and  lace  and  satin,  that 
I  doubted  whether  the  king  himself  did  not  keep 
it  for  show.  However,  it  turned  out  a  very  good 
one  to  sleep  in,"  adds  the  light-hearted  traveller, 
whose  next  night's  rest  might  be  in  a  brigand's 
hut  or  in  the  close  little  cabin  of  a  felucca,  for 
anything  he  knew  or  cared. 

It  was  in  one  more  out  of  the  way  still,  in  the 


APPOINTED    CHARGE  D'AFFAIRES  AT    YEDO.       253 

paper  chamber  of  a  Japanese  temple,  that  for  ahnost 
the  first  time  in  all  his  adventurous  career  we  find 
him  in  absolute  peril  of  his  life.  Notwithstanding 
what  seems  at  the  first  glance  the  rapid  advance 
and  invariable  success  of  his  life,  Laurence  had 
not  been  as  yet,  as  I  have  already  had  occasion  to 
remark,  distinguished  by  Government  patronage. 
When  the  appointment  as  First  Secretary  of 
Legation  at  Japan  was  offered  to  him,  it  was  thus 
a  most  important  step  in  his  career :  though  pos- 
sibly, as  it  was  to  replace  a  gentleman  murdered 
barbarously  in  China,  and  involved  danger  to  life 
as  well  as  a  very  distant  exile  out  of  the  world, 
it  was  not  eagerly  sought  after  by  the  usual  can- 
didates. To  Laurence,  however,  whose  experi- 
ences of  Japan  in  his  former  brief  visit  with 
Lord  Elgin — when  all  was  novel  and  fresh,  and 
the  stranofers  were  received  with  naive  enthu- 
siasm  before  any  complications  had  arisen — were 
all  delightful,  the  offer,  as  he  says,  was  "  ex- 
tremely tempting,"  especially  as  it  was  in  reality 
the  first  really  official  appointment  which  he  had 
held.  He  arrived  in  Yedo  (I  adopt  his  own  spel- 
ling of  the  word)  in  the  end  of  June  1861,  the 
Minister,  Sir  Kutherford  Alcock,  then  Mr  Alcock, 
being  at  the  time  absent,  which  constituted 
Laurence  for  the  time  being  charge  cVaffaires. 
His   usual  correspondence  with  his  mother  here 


254  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

unfortunately  falls  me  ;  but  I  am  permitted  to 
quote  from  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Duchess 
of  Somerset,  which  gives  a  very  vivid  repre- 
sentation of  the  state  of  affairs,  and  shows 
the  changed  condition  of  the  Japanese  mind 
towards  the  powerful  invaders  whom  they  had 
previously  received  with  so  much  cordiality.  This 
letter  was  written  only  a  few  days  before  the  out- 
rage which  so  conij^letely  changed  his  prospects. 

"  Yedo,  Juhj  2  [1861]. 

"  I  am  at  present  luxuriating  in  that  feeling  of. 
repose  which  arises  from  having  arrived  at  one's 
journey's  end,  and  am  agreeably  surprised  with 
the  aspect  of  my  future  abode.  Mr  Alcock  is 
still  away,  so  that  I  found  myself  locum  tenens 
immediately  on  my  arrival.  The  important  ques- 
tions which  are  pending  are  of  course  left  over 
until  his  return,  and  things  are  going  on  quietly 
enough,  in  so  far  as  one's  personal  safety  is  con- 
cerned. That  we  shall  have  ultimately  to  join 
issue  with  the  Japanese  no  one  can  doubt  who 
watches  for  a  moment  the  tone  of  their  diplomacy ; 
but  I  shall  be  able  to  write  to  you  at  more  length 
upon  that  subject  when  I  have  been  here  a  little 
longer.  We  expect  the  Admiral  in  a  week  or  ten 
days,  and  I  trust  that  when  he  comes  he  will  see 
the  expediency  of  keeping  a  large  force  in  these 


INTOLEEABLE    CONDITIONS.  255 

parts.  At  present  we  have  only  one  despatch 
gunboat  for  the  whole  of  Japan.  So  far  as  we 
are  concerned  here,  with  a  due  amount  of  prudence 
and  submission  to  Government  restraint,  there  is 
no  reason  why  any  disturbance  should  arise  ;  but 
at  Yokohama,  only  seventeen  miles  off,  there  are 
upwards  of  a  hundred  Europeans,  and  their  pa- 
tience under  the  galling  restraints  to  which  they 
are  subjected  cannot  always  be  counted  upon. 

"  I  can  imagine  few  places  of  residence  more  de- 
lightful than  this,  if  that  one  all-pervading  draw- 
back of  Government  surveillance  were  removed. 
In  fact,  a  State  prisoner  would  consider  himself 
in  clover,  but  a  free-born  Briton  cannot  reg-ard 
matters  in  the  same  light.  At  Yokohama  these 
restraints  are  much  mitigated,  and  people  may 
ride  and  walk  where  they  like  unattended  ;  but 
we  here  are  never  for  a  moment  unwatched. 
The  beauty  of  our  pleasure-grounds,  which  con- 
sist of  twenty  or  thirty  acres  of  garden,  wood,  and 
water,  is  quite  destroyed  by  the  fact  of  three 
hundred  guards  being  posted  in  them.  If  my 
servant  runs  after  a  butterfly,  a  two-sworded 
official  runs  after  him  ;  and  one  post  completely 
commands  my  rooms,  so  that  my  every  act  is 
noticed.  As  the  whole  is  enclosed  by  a  palisade, 
every  gate  is  guarded.  We  are  never  attended 
by  less  than  eight  when  we  go  out ;  these  scramble 


256  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

over  the  country  after  us,  and  prohibit  our  stop- 
ping to  sjDeak  to  the  i^eople,  much  more  to  shop 
in  the  town.  Indeed  there  is  no  inducement  to  go 
into  the  town  after  one  is  famihar  with  it,  as  the 
streets  are  crowded  and  the  chances  of  colhsion 
greater.  As  a  general  rule,  our  guardians  exer- 
cise their  functions  with  civility.  When  they 
are  impertinent,  as  sometimes  happens,  one  has 
to  submit  as  one  would  to  one's  jailer.  All  this 
is  rather  trying,  and  is  a  useful  exercise  of  temper. 
"It  is  due  to  Mr  Alcock  to  say  that  his 
retirement  to  Kanogan  produced  a  good  effect, 
though  it  was  a  bold  stroke,  as,  if  the  Govern- 
ment had  not  yielded,  there  was  no  escape  from 
the  dilemma.  Practically  one  is  perfectly  safe  if 
one  is  prudent,  submits  to  discij)line,  and  is 
respectful  in  one's  bearing  when  one  meets  the 
native  grandees  or  their  retainers.  For  instance, 
on  a  narrow  path  the  Englishman,  if  he  desires 
to  avoid  a  collision,  makes  way  for  the  grandee's 
servant.  Then  there  is  no  occasion  to  go  out 
after  dark,  or  to  resent  insulting  expressions  from 
intoxicated  Yacomins.  With  entire  humility  one 
is  in  no  danger  whatever,  and  a  truly  sincere 
Christian  who  exercised  the  hio-hest  of  Christian 
graces  might  live  here  in  perfect  safety  all  his 
life.  All  my  old  friends  have  disappeared  from 
the  scene.      One,  who  was  an  especial  favourite 


THE  "happy  despatch."  257 

of  mine  when  I  was  here  last,  ripj)ed  himself  up 
a  short  time  ago  ;  and  two  of  the  other  commis- 
sioners are  disgraced,  and  it  is  supposed  have 
followed  his  example.  This  was  all  on  account 
of  their  friendship  for  foreigners.  A  man  told  me 
that  he  was  struck  by  the  subdued  expression  of 
my  friend's  countenance  the  other  day  when  he 
went  to  see  him ;  but  he  had  no  suspicion  that 
that  high-spirited  individual  intended  to  put  an 
end  to  himself  He  had,  in  fact,  already  sent  out 
cards  of  invitation  for  a  '  happy  despatch  '  party, 
and  at  the  most  jovial  moment  of  the  banquet 
he  addressed  his  friends  in  a  few  telling  words, 
and  vindicated  his  honour  in  their  presence. 

"  Every  one,  down  to  the  lowest  interpreter,  who 
has  had  anything  to  do  with  the  introduction 
of  the  foreigners,  has  disappeared  or  been  dis- 
graced, and  the  hostile  nobles  do  not  hesitate  to 
say  that  they  are  only  waiting  till  they  are  better 
drilled  and  organised  to  go  to  war  with  us.  In 
fact,  they  pay  us  the  compliment  of  saying  that 
we  are  the  only  nation  they  can  go  to  war  with, 
as  we  are  the  only  nation  from  whom  they  can 
learn  anything." 

This  state  of  affairs  was  evidently  an  impossible 
one  to  last ;  but  its  conclusion,  so  far  as  Oliphant 
was  concerned,  though  most  alarming  and  nearly 

VOL.    I.  R 


258  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

tragical,  was  not  a  public  outrage,  but  one  that 
might  have  happened  in  any  unsettled  country, 
the  work  of  a  handful  of  unauthorised  ruffians  ; 
and  the  guard,  whose  inquisition  was  so  intolerable 
to  the  gentlemen  cooped  up  in  the  lodging  which 
was  thus  made  into  a  prison,  seem  to  have 
defended  them  faithfully  at  the  cost  of  several 
lives.  The  attack,  which  was  of  the  most  highly 
dramatic  character,  is  perhaps  one  of  the  best 
known  incidents  in  Oliphant's  life.  He  has  de- 
scribed it  in  the  most  vivid  manner  in  his 
'  Episodes ' :  and  the  letter  in  which  he  com- 
municated the  event  to  his  mother,  though  with 
a  few  characteristic  and  individual  touches  of 
private  sentiment,  differs  little  from  the  after- 
narrative,  and  bears  marks  in  its  broken  sen- 
tences and  hurried  contractions  of  the  difficulty 
with  which  he  still  wrote.  He  had  been  only 
about  a  week  in  discharge  of  his  functions,  and 
had  just  been  relieved  of  his  responsibility  as 
chief  of  the  embassy  by  the  arrival  of  Mr  Alcock, 
when  one  night,  having  sat  late  to  look  at  a 
comet,  most  fortunately,  as  it  happened,  Laurence 
was  startled  by  various  sounds, — the  barking  of  a 
dog  which  he  had  attached  to  himself  by  kindness 
(which  was  a  way  he  had  with  dogs  as  well  as 
men),  and  which  slept  at  his  door,  the  sound  of 
the  rattle  used  by  the  JajDanese  watchmen,  and 


THE  JAPANESE  ROBBER.  259 

other  suspicious  noises.  Jumping  up  in  the  dark, 
he  could  find  no  weapon  handy  but  a  hunting- 
crop  with  a  heavily  weighted  handle,  with  which 
he  rushed  out  into  the  narrow  passage  on  which 
his  room  opened,  calling  several  members  of  the 
leo^ation  as  he  Avent. 

"  Just  as  I  turned  the  corner  I  came  upon 
a  tall  black  figm^e,  w^ith  his  arms  above  his 
head,  holding  a  huge  two-handed  sword.  As 
the  only  light  came  round  the  corner  from  R.'s 
room,  I  could  only  see  indistinctly  that  the 
figure  had  a  mask  on,  and  seemed  in  armour. 
Short  time  for  observation,  had  to  dodge  the 
sword,  and  get  back  a  step  to  get  at  him  with  my 
whip,  yelling  loudly.  It  seemed  like  a  nightmare, 
meeting:  a  hug-e  black  ficrure  comintr  in  the  nio-ht 
into  your  house  to  take  stealthily  your  blood, 
whom  you  had  never  harmed.  He  made  no 
sound  :  we  were  at  it  for  a  minute  or  two.  I 
could  not  hope  to  do  him  much  harm  :  my  only 
object  was  to  keep  him  at  bay  until  somebody 
came  ;  nobody  did.  I  soon  got  a  cut  in  the  right 
shoulder,  and  then  managed  to  entangle  his  sword 
in  the  handle  of  the  whip — it  has  the  marks.  I 
could  not  see  his  blows,  as  it  was  dark  ;  but  at 
length  one  came  down  on  my  left  arm,  which 
I  instinctively  had  kept  over  my  head  as  a  guard. 


260  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

At  the  same  moment  Morlson,  who  had  time  to 
load  a  pistol,  opened  his  door  and  fired.  The  man 
dropped,  but  another  fellow  rushed  at  Morison 
and  cut  him  over  the  head ;  then  both  got  back 
round  the  corner,  the  man  on  the  ground  only 
floored,  the  other  fatally  wounded.  Morison  and 
I  retired." 

This  is  the  first  breathless  account  of  the  sudden 
fight  in  the  dark.  When  the  two  wounded  men 
fell  back  on  the  room  in  which  two  or  three  of 
their  fellows  were  now  gathered  after  a  hurried 
search  for  arms,  and  in  which  there  was  a  feeble 
light,  an  interval  of  terrible  suspense  occurred. 
Bligh,  Oliphant's  servant,  had  dashed  through 
the  paper  partition  of  his  room,  to  join  the  party 
with  his  double  -  barrelled  g-un  :  all  the  arms 
that  could  be  mustered  besides  were  two  re- 
volvers and  a  sword,  and  with  these  means  of 
defence,  paper  walls  and  screens  their  only 
shelter,  and  two  wounded  men  to  hinder  any 
escape,  the  little  group  stood  listening  for  the  re- 
newed attack.  Fortunately,  however,  the  guards 
outside  were  faithful,  and  the  assassins  were 
successfully  driven  back,  although  fighting  went 
on  durinof  the  whole  course  of  the  anxious 
night.  Next  day  Laurence,  whose  wounds  had 
been    bound    up    l^y    Mr   Alcock,    was    conveyed 


"  TRUSSED    LIKE    A    FOWL."  261 

to  the  gunboat  in  the  harbour,  the  Ringdove, 
"  escorted  by  Alcock  and  whole  mission,  file  of 
blue-jackets,  second  of  Yacomins,  all  armed  to 
teeth,  a  most  pic.  procession,"  writes  the  sufferer, 
his  eyes  open  under  all  circumstances.  "  One's 
collar-bone  sewn  up  prevents  use  of  right  arm 
yet ;  other  hurts  are  left  arm,  two  cuts  above  wrist. 
Doctors  promise  better  in  three  weeks."  This  was 
scribbled  on  the  10th  of  July,  four  days  after  the 
event.  On  the  11th  he  goes  on:  "Better:  first 
three  days  both  arms  had  to  be  strapped  across 
chest.  Bligh  fed  me  and  nursed  me  in  the  ten- 
derest  manner ;  but  I  alone  here,  captain  and  men 
on  shore.  Sleeping  on  back,  with  thermometer 
at  85°,  trussed  like  a  fowl,  is  difficult,  but  we  are 
jolly."  After  some  discussion  of  the  position,  the 
following  note  is  added  at  the  end  : — 

"  My  only  thought  that  night  was  for  you  :  for 
mvself  I  am  glad  ;  it  made  me  know  I  could  face 
death,  which  at  one  time  seemed  inevitable.  I 
found  my  creed  or  philosophy  quite  satisfactory. 
I  take  everything  as  in  the  day's  work,  and  that 
is  why  in  one  sense  I  do  not  feel  thankful  like 
others.  I  have  such  a  profound  feeling  of  being 
in  God's  hands,  and  having  nothing  to  do  with 
my  own  fate,  that  gratitude  even  would  be  pre- 
sumption.    If  killed,  I  have  no  doubt  my  first  feel- 


262  THE    MISSION   TO    CHINA. 

ing-  in  the  other  world  would  be  one  of  relief;  just 
as  my  first  feeling*  at  not  being  killed  was  one  of 
relief  too.  It  seems  to  me  to  make  no  difference  : 
whatever  is,  is  best ;  and  I  feel  I  could  realise  this 
amid  considerable  pain.  Since  wounded  do  not 
wish  to  complain  ;  acquiescence  during  short  stay 
here  no  great  heroism.  I  do  not  know  that  I 
should  say  so  always ;  but  as  yet  I  can,  and  I  see 
it  is  the  right  thing.  It  must  all  end ;  one  has 
only  to  hold  on,  and  feel  sure  that  the  use  and 
object  of  it  all  will  be  evident.  Meantime  to  do 
the  right  thing  : 

Live  I,  so  live  I 
To  my  Lord  heartily, 
To  my  Prince  faithfully, 
To  my  neighbour  honestly, 
Die  I,  so  die  I. 

"  If  God  is  good,  it  must  all  come  right  in  the 
end.  I  never  doubt  Him.  I  have  got  '  Thorn- 
dale'  on  board,  which  is  a  most  comfortable 
book." 

Four  days  later,  he  wrote  that  he  was  able  to 
move  his  fingers,  and  the  stitches  were  taken  out 
of  his  shoulder  ;  and  describes  the  cook,  who  in 
running  away  had  received  two  dreadful  gashes 
in  the  back,  and  could  only  lie  on  his  stomach. 
"  Very  lucky  I  did  not  turn   round  to  bolt,"  he 


ALTERNATIVE   WITHDRAWAL    OR    FIGHT.        263 

says ;  "if  so,  must  have  been  cut  down  from 
behind.  I  owe  my  Hfe  to  Morison  coming  up 
when  he  did,  and  K.  and  L.  owe  their  lives  to 
my  stopping-  the  two  men  who  were  hurrying 
along  the  passage  within  three  yards  of  their 
doors."  His  opinion  was  that  after  this  assault, 
which  the  Japanese  elaborately  made  out  to  be 
an  expression  of  private  hatred  alone,  and  entirely 
unconnected  with  any  official,  the  British  Govern- 
ment had  but  two  courses  before  it — the  one 
a  war  with  Japan,  the  other  withdrawal  at  once 
and  summarily.  "  I  don't  depart  from  my  old 
theoretical  views.  The  result  of  our  forcing  our- 
selves u^Don  people  who  never  wanted  us,  has 
been  to  place  us  in  the  dilemma  from  which  the 
only  escape  is  one  or  other  of  the  courses  I  have 
proposed.  If  we  are  withdrawn,  I  shall  feel  very 
much  my  tail  between  my  legs ;  if  we  go  to  war, 
I  shall  go  in  for  looting  daimios'  palaces  and  feel 
a  blacko'uard  ! " 

Laurence  discovered  afterwards  that  the  un- 
accountable ineffectiveness  of  his  encounter  with 
the  Japanese  ruffian  was  fully  explained  by 
the  fact  that  the  blows  on  both  sides  were  ren- 
dered comparatively  harmless  by  a  great  beam, 
which  neither  saw  in  the  darkness,  immediately 
over  their  heads,  and  on  which  the  sword  and 
hunting-whip    respectively    had    expended    their 


264  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

blows.  It  was  discovered  to  be  slashed  and 
dinted  with  the  sword-cuts  which  ought  to  have 
killed  the  combatant  on  one  side,  and  the  blows 
which  ousfht  to  have  felled  the  assailant  on  the 
other.  But  for  this  it  is  almost  impossible  that 
Oliphant  in  his  night-dress,  with  his  loaded 
whip -handle,  standing  against  an  antagonist 
in  a  mail  -  coat  and  with  a  sword,  could  have 
escaped  with  his  life.  But  in  the  meantime 
the  all  -  important  moments  during  which  he 
kept  back  the  assassins  decided  the  failure 
of  the  attempt.  "I  believe  our  escape  was 
mainly  owing  to  the  determined  manner  in 
which  your  son  kept  our  assailants  at  bay  for 
some  time,  till  our  guards  came  up,"  wrote  one 
of  the  attaches  to  Lady  Oliphant ;  and  I  am 
tempted  to  quote  entire  the  letter  of  Bligh  the 
servant,  who  was  ready  to  stand  by  his  master  to 
the  death,  but  who  chilled  the  very  blood  in  his 
veins  by  his  tragic  w^hisper  when  the  little  group 
stood  waiting  for  the  rush  which  they  expected 
every  moment,  "  Do  you  think,  sir,  they  Avill 
torture  us  before  they  kill  us?"  Half  fainting 
from  loss  of  blood,  unable  to  defend  himself 
further  whatever  might  happen,  and  with  the 
certainty  in  his  mind  that  escape  was  impossible, 
Laurence  was  lying  in  a  chair,  too  dizzy  and 
weak    to   mind  what   was   happening,    when    all 


bligh's  letter.  265 

the  blood  remaining  in  his  body  was  brought  to 
his  brain  by  these  words.  "This  horrible  sug- 
gestion brought  out  a  cold  perspiration,"  he  says ; 
"and  I  trust  I  may  never  again  experience  the 
sensation  of  dread  with  which  it  inspired  me." 
Bhgh's  letter,  however,  was  more  considerate 
than  his  speech. 

"  Lady  Oliphant, — Believing  a  letter  from  me 
just  now  would  be  acceptable,  I  take  the  earliest 
opportunity.  I  have  already  disobeyed  your  com- 
mands in  not  writing  before,  for  which  I  crave 
pardon,  and  can  only  now  say  a  few  words  about 
the  late  occurrence.  It  was  a  very  cowardly 
assault,  but  fortunately  without  the  results  in- 
tended. You  may  be  quite  comfortable  about 
my  master,  whatever  you  hear  to  the  contrary. 
He  has  a  slight  wound  on  the  shoulder,  the  right 
side,  and  a  cut  on  the  left  arm  just  above  the 
wrist,  which  I  am  very  glad  to  say  are  doing 
wonderfully  well ;  and  am  very  happy  to  add 
my  master's  health  is  excellent,  which,  combined 
with  the  care  of  the  kind  and  attentive  surgeon 
of  the  Eino-dove,  with  all  due  allowance  for  such 
wounds,  within  three  weeks  or  one  month  my 
master  will  be  himself  again.  He  is  very  irrit- 
able at  not  having  a  more  deadly  weapon  than 
the  hunting-whip,  so  as  to   have  floored  his  op- 


266  THE    MISSION    TO    CHINA. 

ponent.  I  believe  had  it  not  been  for  my  master 
stopping-  the  fellows  when  he  did,  so  gallantly 
and  quite  unsupported,  we  should  have  had  a 
different  tale  to  tell.  I  may  add,  three  or  four 
of  the  fellows  were  killed  and  as  many  taken. 

"  Hoping  this  short  letter  will  meet  your  appro- 
bation, I  beg  to  remain,  your  ladyship's  humble 
servant,  Samuel  Bligh." 

This  good  fellow  had  been  engaged  in  hel^^ing 
his  master  to  form  an  entomolopfical  collection  for 
the  British  Museum, — "  running  after  butterflies," 
as  Laurence  describes.  They  had  found  a  rare 
beetle,  to  their  pride  and  joy,  a  day  or  two  be- 
fore ;  and  the  tragic,  half-seen,  black  figures,  in- 
vading the  sleej)ing  house  in  the  dark,  gave  note 
of  their  stealthy  coming  to  Bligh  by  stumbling 
over  the  tray  full  of  sharp  pins  upon  which  the 
insects  were  impaled  —  a  curious  mixture,  half 
comic,  as  so  many  tragic  occurrences  are. 

It  was  considered  right  that  Laurence  should 
return  home  with  the  news  of  the  condition  of 
the  embassy,  and  the  necessity  for  taking  some 
decided  steps  to  secure  their  safety  and  dignity, 
or  withdrawal — as  soon  as  he  was  able  to  travel. 
He  had  a  curious  commission  on  his  way — to  find 
out  and  warn  off  a  Russian  man-of-war,  whicli 
had  stolen  into  a  secluded  island-harbour  in  the 


RETURN    HOME.  267 

face  of  all  treaties,  and  was  then  ensconced  guilt- 
ily in  the  shelter  of  the  endless  windings  of  the 
waters,  surveying  and  jDreparing  for  anything  that 
might  happen  in  the  future.  Laurence  was  so  far 
recovered  that  he  was  able  to  carry  out  this  com- 
mission with  his  usual  coolness  and  success,  and 
caught  the  Russians,  without  warning,  in  this 
curious  secret  employment.  He  returned  home 
within  a  few  months  from  the  time  he  left  Lon- 
don, and  he  never  again  returned  to  the  diplo- 
matic service.  He  had  only  been  about  ten  days 
in  his  post :  this  was  all  the  actual  and  formal 
employment  given  him  directly  by  the  Govern- 
ment, without  the  intervention  of  any  such  power- 
ful and  friendly  patron  as  Lord  Elgin. 


268 


CHAPTER    VII. 

POLITICAL   ADVENTURE — SOCIAL    LIFE. 

Notwithstanding  the  consequences  of  his  wounds, 
which  he  felt  for  some  time — indeed  lie  never  fully 
recovered  the  use  of  his  left  hand,  several  of  the 
fingers  of  which  were  permanently  disabled — it 
was  not  for  long  that  Laurence  could  persuade 
himself  to  keep  still  and  recover  his  strength  in 
quiet.  It  is  difficult  to  make  out,  from  any  cer- 
tain information,  whether  he  had  some  mission  of 
inquiry  in  hand,  either  from  the  Government  or 
the  '  Times,'  or  was  merely  working  on  his  per- 
sonal impulse,  with  that  thirst  to  know  all  the 
intricacies  of  foreign  politics  which  was  always 
strong  in  him,  when  he  set  out  again,  in  the 
leisure  of  his  sick-leave,  on  a  journey  much  more 
serious  than  the  usual  wanderings  of  convales- 
cence. I  believe,  however,  I  am  right  in  saying 
that  many,  if  not  all,  of  his  apparently  personal 
travels  at  this  period  of  his  life  were  in  reality 


THE    PRINCE    OF    WALES.  269 

charged  with  a  pohtical  object,  and  that  his 
wildest  wanderings  and  farthest  afield  were  in 
the  public  service.  It  was  his  luck — a  kind  of 
good  fortune  which  was  constantly  befalling  him 
— to  encounter  at  Vienna  the  Prince  of  Wales 
and  his  suite,  then,  in  the  beginning  of  1862, 
on  their  way  to  the  Holy  Land,  and  to  be  in- 
vited to  accompany  them  for  a  portion  of  their 
way,  as  far  as  Corfu.  The  Prince  of  Wales  was 
then  a  very  young  man,  and  his  character  as  yet 
unknown  to  the  nation,  which  has  learnt  to  know 
and  esteem  its  fine  qualities  since  then ;  and  it  is 
interesting  to  read  the  early  estimate  of  the  royal 
youth  formed  by  so  keen  an  observer  : — 

"  As  I  had  already  been  to  all  the  places  on  the 
Adriatic  coast  at  which  we  touched,  and  was  able 
to  do  cicerone,  I  spent  a  most  pleasant  ten  days, 
at  the  same  time  doing  a  little  quiet  political 
observation.  I  was  delighted  with  the  Prince, 
and  thought  he  was  rarely  done  justice  to  in 
public  estimation  :  he  is  not  studious  nor  highly 
intellectual,  but  he  is  up  to  the  average  in  this 
respect,  and  beyond  it  in  so  far  as  quickness  of 
observation  and  general  intelligence  go.  Travel- 
lino-  is,  therefore,  the  best  sort  of  education  he 
could  have,  and  I  think  his  development  will  be 
far  higher  than  people  anticipate.     Then  his  tem- 


270  POLITICAL   ADVENTURE. 

per  and  disposition  are  charming.  His  defects 
are  rather  the  inevitable  consequences  of  his  posi- 
tion, which  never  allows  him  any  responsibility, 
or  forces  him  into  action." 

From  Corfu  Laurence  crossed  over  the  main- 
land within  the  line  of  those  blue  mountains  of 
Albania,  which  rise  with  so  much  soft  majesty 
over  the  sea.  The  country  was  then,  as  perpet- 
ually in  its  history,  distracted  with  wars  and 
tumults,  little  comprehensible  to  the  rest  of  the 
world  ;  but  which  he  was  of  opinion  would  one 
time  or  another  force  themselves  upon  the  general 
consideration, — an  opinion  which  those  who  are 
acquainted  with  the  commotions  and  revolutions 
going  on  in  the  out-of-the-way  corners  of  the 
earth  are  very  apt  to  entertain,  since  it  seems 
incredible  that  matters  so  momentous  on  the 
scene  of  operations  should  not  affect  sooner  or 
later  the  larger  mass  of  the  body  politic,  the 
band  of  nations  which  make  up  what  we  call  the 
world.  "  I  was  very  much  struck,"  he  says, 
"  with  the  popular  ignorance  which  prevailed  in 
this  country  in  regard  to  the  revolt  in  Bosnia 
and  Herzegovina,  which  finally  led  to  the  Kusso- 
Turkish  war.  At  the  outbreak  of  that  movement, 
the  press,  so  far  as  I  i-emember  without  an  ex- 
ception, assumed  that  it  was  a  revolt  of  Chris- 


IN    UNKNOWN    LANDS.  271 

tians  against  Turks,  and  I  found  the  same  im- 
pression existed  even  among  members  of  the 
Cabinet ;  the  fact  being  that  it  was  an  agrarian 
rising  of  Slav  Christian  peasants  against  Slav 
Moslem  landlords,  very  much  analogous  in  many 
aspects  to  our  own  landlord  and  tenant  question 
in  Ireland." 

He  does  not,  however,  tell  us  on  which  side 
were  his  own  sympathies,  though  he  speaks  of 
being  the  guest,  in  Herzegovina,  of  one  of  the 
landlords  thus  described.  Whether  it  was  with 
this  rural  dignitary,  or  with  some  expedition 
on  the  other  side,  that  he  himself  went  out  to 
taste  that  whiff  of  war  which  he  could  never  re- 
sist, there  is  no  information.  "  We  went  out  one 
day  to  do  a  little  skirmishing,"  he  says  in  the 
letter  already  quoted  ;  "  but  we  found  the  enemy, 
who  had  occupied  the  place  in  force  the  day  be- 
fore, had  retired,  so  we  had  a  '  walk  over.'  I 
found  a  great  deal  that  was  of  political  interest 
going  on,  or  rather  germinating,  and  indited  a 
despatch  accordingly.  Nothing  can  be  w^orse 
than  the  present  condition  of  the  Turkish  pro- 
vinces, and  when  taken  in  connection  with  the 
row,  the  prospect  looks  bad." 

He  was  not  then  aware  how  much  he  would 
have  to  do  with  the  Turkish  sway  in  after-years, 
nor  was  he  yet  personally  acquainted  with  that 


272  POLITICAL    ADVENTURE. 

exasperation  which  it  seems  capable  beyond  all 
other  governments  (which  is  saying  a  great  deal) 
of  raising-  in  the  mind.  The  followino-  curious 
anticipation  would  seem  to  have  referred  to  some 
project  of  State  which  was  never  carried  out : 
"  I  do  not  see  how  Venice  is  to  be  freed  except 
at  the  price  of  the  Ionian  Isles.  I  know  you 
don't  care  about  that ;  but  I  think  it  is  hardlv 
fair  that  while  the  Emjoeror  makes  by  freeing 
Italy,  we  should  lose  by  the  same  transaction." 
Does  this,  one  wonders,  refer  to  some  passing  pro- 
ject of  handing  over  the  islands  to  Austria  as  a 
compensation  for  the  loss  of  the  Yeneto  :  which 
changed  into  a  determination  to  give  them  away 
to  somebody,  as  often  happens  when  a  present  is 
determined  upon,  and  the  first  proposed  recipient 
fails  ? 

This  expedition  concluded  with  several  amusing 
adventures,  all  set  forth  in  the  most  charming 
way  in  cha23ter  xii.  of  the  '  Episodes.'  On  his 
way  through  the  wild  region  of  the  Abruzzi, 
then  scarcely  known  to  travellers,  and  unsafe 
without  a  strong  escort,  he  received  in  one  in- 
stance an  enthusiastic  reception  as  the  supposed 
nephew  of  Lord  Palmerston  ;  and  in  another  came 
upon  a  most  curious  official,  in  the  shape  of  the 
wife  of  the  English  vice-consul,  who  had  been 
for   some    time    exercising   such    small  duties  as 


ENGLISH    CONSULS    AND    COLONISTS.  273 

appertained  to  his  office,  the  husband  having 
deserted  her  and  his  post  simultaneously.  But 
naturally  this  strange  substitute  was  unable  to 
act  in  the  political  business  which  Oliphant  had 
in  hand.  It  was  here,  too,  in  the  little  port  of 
Manfredonia,  that  he  received  the  following  in- 
vitation :  "  Miss  Thimbleby  requests  the  pleasure 
of  English  gentleman's  company  to  tea  to-night 
at  nine  o'clock.  Old  English  style  ; "  and  accept- 
ing it,  found  a  quaint  little  fossil  of  an  English- 
woman, "  very  old,  well  on  in  the  nineties,"  "  a 
little  old  woman  like  a  witch,"  with  whom  he 
drank  tea  solemnly,  and  to  whom  no  doubt  he 
made  himself  as  delightful  as  if  she  had  been 
young,  beautiful,  and  a  duchess.  She  was  a 
sister  of  Mrs  Jordan  the  actress,  of  all  people 
in  the  world. 

In  a  prison  in  one  of  the  little  towns  which 
he  visited,  and  where  the  captured  brigands  were 
the  chief  object  of  curiosity,  Laurence  saw  "  the 
beautiful  wife  of  a  notorious  chief  of  one  of  the 
bands,  who  had  been  captured  dressed  in  man's 
clothes,  and  using  her  pistol  with  such  effect 
that  she  seriously  wounded  a  soldier  before  she 
was  taken  prisoner," — which  incident  no  doubt 
suggested  to  him  the  extremely  amusing  story 
of  the  "  Brigand's  Bride,"  published  some  time 
afterwards    in   '  Blackwood's   Magazine,'   and   re- 

VOL.    1.  S 


274  POLITICAL    ADVENTURE. 

printed  in  a  little  volume  called  '  Fashionable 
Philosophy.'  It  is  not  a  tale  which  professes  to 
be  authentic  ;  but  the  humorous  dare-devil  of  the 
story  has  a  sufficient  family  resemblance  to  our 
active  explorer — who  pushed  his  way  everywhere, 
feared  nothing,  and  delighted  above  all  in  strange 
and  novel  experiences  of  humanity  —  to  make 
him  interesting,  even  with  the  fantastic  acces- 
sories of  the  air-gun,  and  the  wondering  tim- 
orous population  which  is  done  to  the  life.  It 
is  easy  to  imagine  Laurence  himself  seated,  like 
his  hero,  outside  the  chemist's  door,  the  usual 
gossiping  -  place  of  the  provincial  Italian,  with 
the  notary  and  doctor  and  priest  and  the 
Sindaco  of  the  little  town,  acute  but  ignorant, 
hanging  upon  his  lips,  knowing  nothing  of 
England  but  its  greatness  and  the  eccentricity 
of  the  Inglese,  and  Palmerston  the  fetich  of 
the  age ;  and  receiving  all  the  wonderful  stories 
told  them  with  a  faith  tempered  by  surprise, 
and  the  keenness  of  that  Italian  intelligence 
which  understands  humour  better  than  any 
other  Continental  nation.  The  reader  would 
do  well  to  take  in  the  wild  fun  and  extrava- 
gance of  this  story  to  the  more  sober  record, 
not  as  fact,  but  as  a  most  amusing  and  vivid 
illustration  of  the  wanderer's  possibilities,  and 
of  that  characteristic  rural  yet  urban  life.     Now- 


GIVES    UP   THE    DIPLOMATIC    SERVICE.  275 

adays  the  traveller  on  his  rush  to  India  passes 
Foggia  and  the  other  little  towns  of  the  coast 
at  something  as  near  express  speed  as  is  pos- 
sible in  Italy  —  and  no  doubt  they  must  have 
gone  through  certain  revolutions  in  consequence  ; 
but  the  gossips  still  sit  round  the  apothecary's 
door  in  the  soft  evenings,  although  some  smat- 
terings of  knowledge  may  have  penetrated,  with 
much  politics  and  the  newsj)aper,  into  their  anti- 
quated society. 

On  his  return  from  this  expedition  it  became 
necessary  for  Laurence  to  decide  whether  he 
should  or  should  not  return  to  his  post  in  Japan. 
The  alternative  was  to  do  this  or  to  retire  alto- 
gether from  the  diplomatic  service,  and  all  the 
hopes  involved  in  it.  "  It  was  with  great  regret," 
he  says,  "  that  I  found  myself  compelled  by  family 
considerations  to  adopt  the  latter  alternative,  and 
abandon  a  career  which  had  at  that  time  peculiar 
attractions  for  me,  and  in  Avhich,  considering  my 
age,  I  had  made  rapid  progress."  Had  he  re- 
turned to  Japan,  it  would  have  been  to  the  highly 
important  position  of  charge  d'affaires,  which 
could  not  have  failed  to  lead  to  continuous  and 
profitable  employment,  and  represented  indeed 
the  ball  at  his  foot  so  far  as  diplomatic  service 
was  concerned ;  but  there  can  be  little  doubt 
that  the  anxieties  of  his  mother,  after  the  dreadful 


276  POLITICAL   ADVENTURE. 

experience  she  had  passed  through  at  the  time  of 
his  wound  and  illness,  were  not  to  be  trifled  with, 
and  that  it  was  in  consideration  for  her  very 
natural  feelings  that  he  gave  up  the  far-distant 
and  dangerous  post. 

It  was  one  thing,  however,  to  give  up  Japan, 
and  another  to  give  up  the  travel  and  adventure 
which  were  his  very  life ;  and  accordingly  not 
many  months  had  elapsed  before  he  was  afloat 
again.  "  In  January  1863  the  Polish  insurrection 
broke  out ;  and  as,"  he  says  with  frank  humour, 
"  I  had  by  this  time  acquired  a  habit  of  fishing 
in  troubled  waters,  I  determined  to  go  and  see 
it."  Once  more  I  must  refer  the  reader  to  the 
'  Episodes '  for  the  account  of  this  interesting 
historical  event.  The  evolutions  of  foreign  poli- 
tics are  always  diflicult  to  follow,  and  the  diffi- 
culty is  largely  increased  when  it  is  the  outs 
and  ins  of  popular  feeling  and  the  policy  of  an 
insurrection,  even  when  so  important  as  to  be 
called  a  national  movement,  that  are  in  question. 
Laurence  penetrated  into  the  councils  of  the  un- 
fortunate Poles,  who  were  playing  so  tragic  a 
game,  and  into  one  of  the  camps  of  the  insurgents, 
a  stray  corps,  pathetically  small  and  defenceless, 
but  animated  by  such  a  fire  of  enthusiasm  as 
kindled  the  very  heart  of  the  spectator,  open  as 
that  was  to  all  generous  sympathies.     He  made 


THE    POLES    IN    THE    FIELD.  277 

this  visit  at  peril  of  his  Hfe,  with  a  perfect  con- 
sciousness that  the  Cossacks  were  very  Httle 
discriminating,  and  would  not  have  stopped  to 
inquire  what  a  wandering  Englishman  had  to  do 
dans  cette  galere,  or  to  respect  his  nationality, 
had  they  chanced  to  come  upon  the  little  agitated 
party  who  had  escorted  him  to  the  camjj.  He 
must,  however,  have  had  that  confidence  in  his 
own  fate  which  a  man  who  has  made  a  hundred 
hairbreadth  escapes  naturally  has. 

His  picture  of  the  camp  in  the  woods,  almost 
w^ithin  hearing  of  a  Russian  army,  where  every 
man  held  his  life  in  his  hands,  is  singularly  im- 
pressive and  interesting.  When  the  whole  party 
united  in  the  Polish  national  song,  the  effect  was 
overwhelminof. 

"  When  all  joined  in  the  grand  prayer  to  God 
which  forms  the  swelling  chorus,  and  the  men, 
with  swords  drawn,  uplifted  their  arms  in  sup- 
plication, the  tears  streamed  down  the  cheeks  of 
the  women  as  they  sang,  for  they  remembered 
their  sisters  slain  on  their  knees  in  the  churches 
at  Warsaw  for  doing  the  same,  and  bloody 
memories  crowded  on  them,  as,  with  voices 
trembling  from  emotion,  they  besought,  in  solemn 
strains,  the  mercy  of  the  Most  High.  The  scene 
was    so   full    of  dramatic   effect   that   I    scarcely 


278  POLITICAL    ADVENTURE. 

believed  in  its  reality  till  I  remembered  the 
existence  of  six  thousand  Russian  soldiers  in  the 
immediate  neighbourhood,  who  were  thirsting  for 
the  blood  of  this  little  band  of  men  and  women. 
There  was  something  practical  in  this  considera- 
tion calculated  to  captivate  a  mind  too  prosaic  to 
be  stirred  by  theatrical  representations ;  for  I 
confess  I  find  it  generally  more  easy  to  delude 
myself  by  believing  in  the  sham  of  a  reality,  than 
in  the  reality  of  a  sham.  However,  upon  this 
occasion  he  must  have  been  a  most  uncompromis- 
ing stoic  who  was  not  touched  and  impressed." 

I  quote  the  above  passage  chiefly  from  the 
curious  little  bit  of  self-disclosure  which  betrays 
the  Scotch  nationality  of  a  man  so  cosmopolitan. 
Many  Englishmen,  and  almost  every  Scot,  will 
sympathise  with  this  suspiciousness  in  respect  to 
theatrical  circumstances  and  instinctive  horror  of 
the  sham,  which  sometimes  reacts  upon  his  ap- 
preciation of  the  true.  That  this  keen  intuitive 
criticism  should  exist  in  a  spirit  open  to  every 
enthusiasm  and  full  of  sympathy,  in  this  particular 
case,  may  astonish  those  who  are  not  familiar  with 
that  remarkable  and  most  interesting  develop- 
ment ;  and  it  all  throws  a  very  singular  light 
upon  his  own  after-career. 

In  the  course  of  the  same  year,  after  a  brief 


THE    DOWNFALL    OF    THE    POLES.  279 

return  to  England,  Laurence  once  more  set  out 
for  the  same  distant  and  little  -  known  region. 
The  portion  of  his  correspondence  which  refers 
to  this  period  of  his  life  has  not  fallen  into  my 
hands ;  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  all  these  re- 
peated journeys  had  their  distinct  j)olitical  object, 
and  were  far  from  being  the  mere  adventures  they 
seem.  Only  a  short  time  had  elapsed  since  his 
previous  visit,  and  yet  it  was  long  enough  to 
permit  the  downfall  of  the  Polish  hopes,  the  im- 
prisonment and  death  of  many  of  the  friends  who 
had  then  received  him,  and  the  all  but  suppression 
of  the  revolt.  As  it  still  lived,  however,  in  out- 
of-the-way  corners,  and  still  entertained  pathetic 
hopes,  never  to  be  fulfilled,  of  French  or  English 
intervention,  the  deep  interest  which  Oliphant 
felt  in  the  brave  men  who  had  welcomed  him  so 
kindl}',  impelled  him  to  another  visit,  though  the 
expedition  was  full  of  risk.  He  was  accompanied 
by  a  friend,  the  Hon.  Evelyn  Ashley,  and  their 
object  was  to  penetrate  into  the  Russian  prov 
inces  of  Volhynia,  where  it  was  believed  that 
revolution  was  smoulderino-  if  not  vet  accom- 
panied  by  any  perceptible  blaze.  It  is  curious 
that  he  should  thus  have  made  his  way  over 
ground  which,  many  years  after,  he  was  again 
to  traverse  in  the  interests  of  the  Jews — a  ^Deople 
who  did  not  in  anv  deu-ree  commend  themselves 


280  POLITICAL    ADVENTURE. 

to  him  during  this  first  journey.  The  attempt  to 
penetrate  into  the  disaffected  province  was,  how- 
ever, wholly  ineffectual ;  and  after  some  adven- 
tures, which  are  amusing  enough  in  the  narra- 
tive though  far  from  amusing  in  the  experience, 
the  Eneflishmen  were  turned  back,  and  made  a 
masterly  retreat  to  Jassy,  where,  on  the  invita- 
tion of  a  nun  encountered  in  a  box  at  the  opera 
— a  most  remarkable  scene  for  such  a  meeting — 
Laurence  and  his  companion  made  a  most  amus- 
ing and  picturesque  tour  in  Moldavia,  proceeding 
from  one  convent  to  another,  each  more  piquant 
and  interesting  than  the  one  preceding  it,  in 
which  companies  of  recluses  lived  in  the  most 
liberal  and  uncontrolled  manner,  the  nuns,  like 
Flemish  Beguines,  in  little  cottages  picturesquely 
grouped  together,  and  both  monks  and  nuns  sur- 
rounded by  blooming  gardens,  and  much  that  was 
calculated  to  make  life  agreeable.  This  was  j^er- 
haps  the  only  detour  among  many  journeys  which 
had  no  political  meaning,  though  it  furnished  a 
most  agreeable  article  for  '  Blackwood '  and  a  de- 
lightful chapter  in  the  '  Episodes.' 

At  the  end  of  this  pleasant  break  in  his  excit- 
ing life,  he  turned  his  steps  northwards  in  another 
direction  where  trouble  was  brewing,  always  the 
greatest  attraction,  notwithstanding  his  keen  en- 
joyment of  every  novelty  in  human  life.      This 


SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN.  281 

time  it  was  to  Schleswig-Holstein,  then  enveloped 
in  the  smoke  and  fumes  of  a  contention  which  no- 
body at  least  within  our  four  seas  understood, 
that  he  went  to  study  the  disj^uted  succession 
and  all  the  questions  involved.  "As  confessedly 
it  was  one  which  the  British  statesmen  of  the 
day  considered  beyond  their  comprehension,  and 
as  the  British  public  never  even  tried  to  under- 
stand it,  it  was  no  wonder  that  our  policy  was 
mistaken  throughout.  When  a  question  has  more 
than  two  sides,  the  popular  intelligence  fails  to 
grasp  it.  As  most  questions  of  foreign  policy 
have  generally  three  at  least,  and  sometimes 
more,  and  as  Ministers  are  compelled  to  adopt 
the  popular  view  if  they  wish  to  retain  office, 
the  foreign  policy  of  England  is  usually  charac- 
terised by  a  charming  simplicity,  not  always  con- 
ducive to  the  highest  interests  of  the  country." 

The  question  in  this  case  was  a  triangular  one, 
the  little  Schleswig  -  Holstein  desiring  its  own 
sovereign  and  a  peaceable  small  independence, 
while  spectators  at  a  distance  considered  the  con- 
flict to  be  one  between  the  Danes  and  Prussians 
for  the  possession  of  a  coveted  morsel  of  which 
the  nationality  was  just  doubtful  enough  to  give 
to  each  a  certain  claim.  In  the  distant  eddies 
of  opinions  in  those  days  I  remember  that  the 
French  Government  was  warmly  censured  for  not 


282  POLITICAL    ADVENTURE. 

takinof  enerofetic  action  on  behalf  of  the  Poles, 
their  traditionary  allies  and  j^^'oteges,  while  Great 
Britain  was  equally  blamed  for  not  interfering 
to  defend  the  rights  of  the  Danes.  I  recol- 
lect overhearing  upon  the  deck  of  a  steamboat 
on  the  lake  of  Como  an  animated  discussion  on 
the  subject  between  some  Italian  gentlemen, 
whose  enero-etic  denunciation  of  the  British  Gov- 
ernment  as  "  un  governo  infame,"  in  consequence 
of  their  desertion  of  Denmark,  was  loud  and 
vigorous.  Laurence,  however,  held  a  very  dif- 
ferent view  :  his  sympathies  were  with  neither  of 
the  greater  contending  parties,  but  for  the  Duke 
of  Sonderburg-Augustenburg,  whose  claims  were 
overlooked  on  both  sides. 

This  was  the  last  of  these  purely  political 
adventures  in  which  a  thirst  for  information,  the 
desire  of  novelty  and  excitement,  and  a  certain 
ambition  to  know  thoroughly  and  make  himself 
an  authority  upon  the  most  complicated  ques- 
tions of  European  politics,  were  the  ostensible 
motives.  Though  he  is  always  individual  and 
interestino-  in  whatever  he  writes,  the  hundred 
little  personal  revelations  of  his  private  corres- 
pondence are  wanting  in  these  bustling  but  un- 
productive years,  in  which  he  seems  to  have 
worked  off  a  great  deal  of  superabundant  energy, 
and  gradually  calmed  and  settled   down   into  a 


A    CITIZEN    OF    THE    WORLD.  283 

state  of  mind  adapted  to  residence  at  home,  and 
the  routine  of  ordinary  EngUsh  Hfe.  He  was 
now,  in  1864,  when  he  returned  to  England  from 
the  battle  which  settled  the  fate  of  Schleswig- 
Holstein,  a  man  of  thirty-five,  in  the  height  of 
life  and  faculty,  with  an  extraordinary  knowledge 
of  the  world  and  mankind.  The  reader  may 
think,  perhaps,  that  such  experiences  as  those  of 
Japan  and  Circassia  were  not  entirely  adapted 
to  form  him  for  the  localities  of  Mayfair  and  St 
Stephen's.  It  must,  however,  be  remembered 
that  between  his  journeys  there  had  interposed 
on  many  occasions  a  slice  of  society,  usually  at 
its  most  animated  and  gayest  moment ;  that  he 
knew  everybody  at  home  as  well  as  abroad, — 
British  Ministers  as  well  as  Chinese  mandarins, 
literary  circles  as  well  as  political,  and  fashion- 
able circles  better  than  either  ;  that  he  had 
friends  everywhere,  among  both  small  and  great, 
and  was  acquainted  with  English  life  to  its 
depths,  but  especially  with  the  representative 
classes  which  we  call  the  "world," — and  in 
which  the  brightest  intelligence  and  grace,  as 
well  as  the  most  perfect  frivolity  and  foolish- 
ness, are  to  be  found.  He  knew  these  classes, 
understood  their  importance  and  their  worth, 
and  scorned  their  social  superiority  while  esteem- 
ing it,  in  full  consciousness  of  the  paradox  which 


284  SOCIAL   LIFE. 

existed  both  in  them  and  in  himself.  He  saw 
through  every  social  pretence  with  the  keenest 
glance  of  intelligence  and  humour,  and  never 
hesitated  to  impale  any  offender  upon  his  shining 
spear,  or  laugh  at  any  absurdity ;  yet  instinc- 
tively held  by  that  world  to  which,  satirist  and 
revolutionary  as  he  was,  he  belonged,  and  felt 
himself  at  home  in  it,  as  he  never  was  in  less 
distinguished  but  j30ssibly  more  genuine  spheres. 
This  curious  distinction  was  never  more  clearly 
evidenced  than  in  Laurence  Oliphant's  life.  He 
was  not  rich  :  his  ancient  race  had  never  been 
of  great  pretensions,  or  with  claims  beyond  the 
modest  gentlehood  of  the  county  to  which  it  be- 
longed :  yet  his  standing-ground  throughout  his 
life  was  that  of  society  ;  and  the  world  of  fashion, 
though  he  mocked  it  continually,  and  shot  a 
thousand  darts  at  its  mannerisms  and  follies, 
was,  after  all,  his  natural  sphere. 

It  was  in  the  year  1864  that  Laurence  re- 
turned home  more  or  less  "  for  good,"  with  the 
determination  of  finding,  if  possible,  settled  em- 
ployment in  England,  or  at  least  carving  out 
some  occupation  for  himself  which  would  permit 
him  to  have  a  settled  home  there,  and  relieve  and 
cheer  his  mother's  loneliness.  I  think  her  com- 
fort must  have  been  his  great  motive  in  this 
determination,  and  perha^DS,  too,  a  little  disgust 


HIS    OCCUPATIONS    AT    HOME.  285 

with  the  pubhc  service  in  distant  parts  of  the 
earth,  where  the  best  efforts  of  one  representa- 
tive of  England  were  apt  to  be  altogether  dis- 
credited by  the  actions  of  another,  or  by  mis- 
adventure, or  by  Government  neglect,  as  happened 
in  the  case  of  Lord  Elgin — whose  proceedings  were 
subjected  to  endless  animadversion  as  incomplete 
and  unsatisfactory,  as  soon  as  the  next  difficulty 
with  China  arose.  The  interval  which  elapsed 
between  Oliphant's  return  from  his  late  wander- 
ings and  his  election  to  Parliament  was  most 
actively  and  fully  taken  up,  although  he  held 
no  appointment ;  and  what  between  literature, 
society,  lectures — which  he  seems  to  have  given 
in  many  places,  generally  with  a  view  to  the 
future  election  —  and  visits,  his  mind  at  this 
time  was  fully  occupied.  He  had  always,  or 
almost  always,  a  book  preparing  for  the  press, 
always  a  round  of  country-houses  attending  his 
leisure,  always  a  hundred  engagements  in  town. 
I  find  a  succession  of  letters  recounting  the  ex- 
periences of  one  autumn,  which  I  at  first  concluded 
to  belong  to  this  period,  difficult  as  the  chron- 
ology is  always,  for  his  correspondence  as  usual 
is  completely  destitute  of  dates,  but  which  in 
reality  belongs  to  the  conclusion  of  1859,  after 
his  first  China  expedition.  However,  it  does 
very  well   as  an    example  of  how   his   autumns 


286  SOCIAL    LIFE. 

were    generally    spent,    and    the    reader   will,    I 
hope,  admit  the  retrospective  glance. 

He  was  coquetting  with  various  constituencies 
at  the  time,  in  a  series  of  experiences,  repeated 
a  few  years  later  ;   hoping  to  move  the  heart  of 
Glasgow,    but    not    unwilling    to    content    him- 
self with    Greenock,    and   with    a   steadfast    eye 
upon    the    Stirling    burghs,    as    the    sober    cer- 
tainty  upon  which    he    could   always  fall    back. 
His  letters  are  full  of  amusing  sketches  of  the 
people  among  whom  he  moved  ;  from  the  lively 
and  distinguished  visitors  in   country-houses   to 
the  chance  companions  he  picked  up  in  railway 
carriages,  of  one  of  whom,  for  example,  he  writes  : 
"Had  a  delightful  journey,  my  companion  being 
a    young    man    from    London    in    the    wholesale 
woollen  and    stuff  trade,   from  whom   I   derived 
much  useful  information."     This  "  delightful  jour- 
ney "  carried  him  to  Sir  James  Clarke's  house  of 
Birk  Hall,  where   he  met  "a  most  learned   and 
delightful  party   (including   Professor  Owen,   Sir 
Charles   Lyell,   and   various   others   of  the    same 
calibre),  all  savants  of  the  first  water,  and  con- 
sequently  most    agreeable    and    entertaining    so- 
ciety.    I  wish   I   could  always  live  in  it."     The 
leap  from  the  young  man  in  the  woollen  trade 
to   these   high    potentates  is  long   enough ;    but 
they  were  equally  interesting  to  his  always  eager 


THE    BRITISH    ASSOCIATION?.  287 

and  lively  intellioence,  and  nothing  could  give  a 
better  idea  of  his  universal  interest  in  human  life 
and  character. 

The  occasion  on  which  he  met  this  deliofhtful 
party  was  a  meeting  of  the  British  Association 
at  Aberdeen,  where  he  took  a  considerable  share 
in  the  proceedings,  along  with  Captain  Sherard 
Osborn,  Captain  Speke,  and  other  travellers  of 
authority,  and  read  a  paper  in  the  Geographical 
Section  upon  Japan,  which  was  at  the  period  his 
special  subject.  He  gave  as  usual  a  brief,  but 
lively,  description  of  this  to  his  mother  in  London  : 

"  I  wish  you  had  cared  as  little  for  the  ordeal  of 
reading  a  paper  as  I  did.  There  was  nothing  on 
earth  to  be  nervous  about.  The  hall  was  crowded 
to  the  door,  and  they  listened  with  great  atten- 
tion for  the  forty  minutes  which  my  paper  lasted, 
and  cheered  me  vociferously  when  it  was  over, 
so  I  suppose  it  pleased  them.  I  have  promised 
to  lecture  at  Leeds  on  the  state  of  our  political 
relations  with  China.  If  I  can't  say  what  I 
want  in  the  House  of  Commons,  I  must  find 
some  other  place.  I  will  get  it  fully  reported 
in  the  '  Times.'  " 

Other  proposals  to  the  same  effect  poured  upon 
him.     He   was   asked  to   Glascrow  to    discourse : 


o 


288  SOCIAL   LIFE. 

at  one  time  to  the  merchants  in  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  "who  are  coming  in  a  select  body 
to  hear  me,  a  regular  business  lecture,"  "  no 
ladies  admitted,"  he  adds  regretfully ;  at  another 
to  the  Youncr  Men's  Christian  Association.  "  I 
shall  have  treated  Japan  in  every  variety  of  way 
before  I  have  done,"  he  says.  He  had  also 
lectures  to  deliver  at  Dunfermline,  at  Stirling, 
at  Greenock,  and  was  invited  by  the  Philo- 
sophical Institution  in  Edinburgh  to  deliver  two, 
all  on  the  same  subject  of  Japan.  The  last 
proposal  was  accompanied  by  an  offer  of  <£20 
for  the  two  lectures,  which  does  not  seem  a 
large  sum,  but  which  he  considers  "  not  to  be 
despised."  He  was  also  moved  by  the  fact  that 
"  only  distinguished  men  lectured  there,  and  the 
audience  is  large  and  important."  "  I  never  ex- 
pected to  turn  popular  lecturer,"  he  says ;  "I 
have  not  sought  to  be  jDushed  forward  in  this 
way,  but  seeing  that  I  am  without  any  special 
occupation  in  London,  I  think  I  ought  to  do 
what  comes  to  my  hand."  He  had,  besides,  the 
strong  inducement  of  a  desire  "  to  get  hold  of 
Glasgow,"  "  which  would  give  me  a  position  in 
the  House  of  Commons,"  he  says,  "  above  what 
a  young  man  could  expect."  And  indeed  there 
seem  to  have  been  vague  negotiations  on  this 
subject,    invitations  to  stand  from   "  a   Glasgow 


AT    GREENOCK.  289 

body,"  whom  he  evidently  considered  without 
sufficient  authority.  Laurence  desired  nothing 
more  than  to  be  asked  to  stand  ;  but  he  was 
wise  enough  not  to  commit  himself,  even  on  the 
warrant  of  his  enthusiastic  reception,  and  the 
compliments  of  the  Glasgow  potentates,  while 
the  fumes  of  his  lecture  were  still  in  their  heads. 
At  Greenock  he  had  an  amusing  experience,  which 
I  think  he  describes  in  one  of  his  books,  but  of 
which  I  will  quote  the  report  to  his  mother,  at 
first  hand.  He  was  disappointed  and  half  offended 
on  arriving  to  find  no  one  in  waiting  to  meet  him, 
and  to  have  to  find  his  way  by  himself  to  the 
hotel. 

"  However,  the  secretary  came  at  last  to  show 
me  the  way  to  the  Free  Kirk  where  I  was  to 
lecture.  Dunlop  was  not  in  the  chair,  having 
been  detained  in  Edinburgh,  so  the  sheriff  pre- 
sided instead.  I  was  somewhat  dismayed  to  find 
myself  mounting  the  steps  of  a  very  high  pulpit, 
and  looking  down  upon  the  upturned  faces  of 
about  twelve  hundred  people,  who  crammed  the 
church  to  overflowing ;  still  more  dismayed  to 
hear  the  minister,  who  occupied  the  precentor's 
desk  beneath  me,  call  upon  the  congregation  to 
join  him  in  prayer — which  was  a  very  long  one, 
a  great  part  of  it  personal  to  myself,  and  asking 

VOL.    I.  T 


290  SOCIAL    LIFE. 

a  blessing  upon  the  discourse  I  was  about  to 
enter  upon.  T  began  to  think  I  would  try  my 
hand  at  a  sermon,  as  the  lecture  I  was  going  to 
give  was  likely  to  be  far  too  full  of  jokes  to  be 
appropriate  to  the  occasion.  However,  I  dis- 
coursed at  starting  on  Japan  as  a  field  for  mis- 
sionary enterprise,  and  then,  finding  I  had  a 
sympathetic  audience,  I  was  more  light  and 
airy,  until  at  last  I  kept  them  all  in  a  highly 
amused  condition.  I  looked  over  my  red  pulpit 
cushion  and  saw  the  old  minister  giggling  im- 
mensely. Altogether  I  think  it  was  the  most 
successful  lecture  I  have  given.  I  despise  even 
notes  now,  and  find  practice  is  improving  my 
delivery.  Nor  did  I  feel  the  least  fatigued. 
Four  of  the  leading  people  were  profuse  in  their 
apologies  afterwards  for  the  coolness  of  my  re- 
ception, which  they  declared  was  a  mistake.  I 
am  to  go  a  round  of  visits  with  one  of  them 
this  morning." 

These  coquettings  with  the  busy  towns  and 
cities  of  the  west  of  Scotland  did  not,  however, 
come  to  anything  ;  and  when  the  decisive  moment 
arrived,  it  was  to  Stirling,  where  his  name  itself 
was  a  recommendation  and  his  family  so  well 
known,  that  he  turned.  He  had  already  con- 
tested   these    burghs,    unsuccessfully    but    hope- 


t<    r,  .  T^  »     " 


PAPA       IN    STIRLING.  291 

fully,  before  going  to  China  —  an  incident  of 
which  I  find  scarcely  any  record  except  of  the 
mere  fact,  and  that  he  had  much  enjoyed  the 
business  of  canvassing,  in  which  his  father, 
also  greatly  amused  and  excited,  as  was  the 
character  of  the  family,  had  helped  and  accom- 
panied him.  His  reflections  on  this  subject, 
on  a  renewed  visit  to  Stirling,  are  touching 
and  full  of  feeling-.  He  sfives  an  account  of  a 
brief  visit  to  Stirling  on  his  way  to  Broomhall, 
the  home  of  Lord  Elgin,  and  his  meeting  with 
his  former  agents  : — 

"  They  declare  they  can  bring  me  in  against 
Caird  next  time,  if  I  wish  it.  The  few  of  my 
old  supporters  whom  I  saw  are  most  enthusi- 
astic. I  have  a  strong  body  of  friends  in  Stir- 
ling. I  feel  quite  melancholy  in  renewing  all 
these  associations,  however :  they  recall  papa  so 
vividly  to  my  mind.  He  has  been  so  warmly 
mentioned  by  several  persons  to  me.  They  got 
to  like  him  so  much.  M'Farlane  says  that  the 
look  of  him  as  he  walked  down  the  street  ofot 
me  votes." 

This  pretty  and  very  Scotch  touch  of  affec- 
tionate hyperbole  is  affecting,  between  the  smile 
and   the   tear,  and  was   no  doubt   spoken  with 


292  SOCIAL    LIFE. 

water  in  the  eyes  of  the  plain  Stirling  "writer" 
so  unexpectedly  poetical. 

As  a  backgi'ound  to  these  public  appearances, 
comes  a  lively  and  shifting  panorama  of  Scotch 
country-houses,   in  which   there  are  many  vivid 
glimpses   of  individual   character   and    manners. 
Laurence  was  not  superior  to  gossip  on  occasion, 
as  perhaps  it  is  impossible  for  a  man   so  full  of 
interest  in  his  fellow-creatures  to  be ;  but  he  had 
not  time  or  inclination  to  send  to  his  mother  any- 
thing more  than  a  rapid  apergu  here  and  there 
of  the  individualities  with  which  he  was  brought 
into  contact.     There  is  but  one  case,  I  think,  in 
which  a  private  and  painful  imbroglio  of  real  life 
is  referred  to  ;  and  in  that  case  both  mother  and 
son  were  actively  employed  in  smoothing  doAvn 
and  clearing  up  the  unfortunate  difficulty,  in  the 
course  of  which   the   young  man   gives  vent  to 
various  judgments  upon  the  impossibility  of  Pla- 
tonic  attachments,   for  instance  (afterwards  the 
chief  doctrine  and  belief  of  his   life),  which  are 
very  authoritative  and  decided ;  but  offers  him- 
self, as   few  men  would  be  likely  to  do,   as  the 
agent  to  bring  "  the  man,"  the  disturber  of  do- 
mestic happiness,  to  reason,  and  to  convince  him, 
not  without   reference   to    his   own   (Laurence's) 
private  experiences,  of  the  necessity  of  absolute 
withdrawal. 


"a  walk  with  the  lassies."  293 

I  am  happy  to  say,  however,  that,  in  con- 
tradistinction to  so  many  series  of  correspon- 
dence that  have  been  made  open  to  the  world, 
there  is  no  scandal,  no  piquant  stories,  no  indis- 
cretions or  betrayals,  in  these  ever  lively  and 
graphic  letters.  If  he  sometimes  speaks  In  his 
books  as  if  he  believed  all  society  to  be  corrupt, 
he  finds,  as  a  sane  and  wholesome  man  should  do, 
no  trace  of  corruption  in  the  households  that  re- 
ceive him — nothing  but  points  of  character,  cheer- 
ful indications  of  identity,  something  to  like  and 
to  please  everywhere.  As  usual,  the  young  ladles 
call  for  a  great  deal  of  his  attention,  and  "  a  walk 
with  the  lassies "  in  the  afternoon,  after  he  has 
got  through  his  work,  was  a  very  favourite  amuse- 
ment. Indeed  there  is  a  little  glamour  of  easy 
sentiment  in  his  eyes  as  he  goes  from  one  circle 
to  another,  always  ready  for  a  touch  of  pleasant 
emotion,  and  by  no  means  unwilling  to  be  awak- 
ened to  deeper  feelings.  "  I  am  deeply  in  love 
wdth  them  all,"  he  says  of  a  bevy  of  pretty  sisters, 
which  no  doubt  was  consolatory  to  the  mind  of 
the  mother,  always  uneasy  on  this  point.  One 
lady,  whom  he  had  already  admired  and  specu- 
lated a  little  upon.  Is  more  particularly  discussed. 
Some  one  has  been  describing  her  to  him  in  the 
highest  terms.  "  She  has  a  charming  disposition, 
thoroughly  unselfish — but  muckle  hands  and  feet ! 


294  SOCIAL    LIFE. 

What  is  that,  you  will  say,  to  good  mental  quali- 
ties ?  I  don't  think  she  is  the  least  brilliant,  but 
with  very  good  common-sense.  In  fact,  she  would 
suit  you  perfectly.  As  for  myself,  I  despair  of 
finding  any  one ;  probably  when  I  do,  she  will  be 
an  aversion  unto  you." 

While  thus  living  with  his  work  and  his  lec- 
tures, and  his  afternoon  walk  with  the  "lassies" 
of  the  house,  his  reports  of  himself  are  exceedingly 
cheerful :  "  Whenever  I  can  dispose  of  my  time  to 
my  own  satisfaction  between  innocent  recreation 
and  profitable  employment,  I  am  happy ;  but, 
when  employment  is  wanting,  the  recreation  often 
ceases  to  be  innocent,  '  Satan  finding  some  mischief 
still,'  &c.  And  when  the  recreation  is  wanting, 
as  in  Edinburgh,  I  become  low-spirited  and  de- 
pressed." 

The  light-hearted  reports  of  his  letters  inform 
us — at  second-hand  througfh  his  mother — of  such 
incidents  as  his  performances  at  a  tenants'  ball  in  a 
house  where  he  "  danced  reels  violently  till  3  a.m., 
and  woke  so  fresh  at  seven  that  I  wrote  my  book 
till  eleven  o'clock,  when  the  rest  of  the  knocked- 
up  world  at  last  came  to  breakfast "  :  how  he 
gravely  interviewed  a  young  man  in  an  office  who 
"  wants  me  to  put  him  in  the  same  line  of  life  I 
have  followed  myself,  as  he  hates  the  writer's 
desk  ;  but  I  don't  know  how  that  is  to  be  done." 


NORMAN    MACLEOD    A   TRUMP.  295 

How  he  discusses  theology  everywhere  whenever 
he  has  a  chance,  "  exchangmg  'Thorndale'  with 
Lady  A.  for  two  of  Maurice's  works  "  ;  and  finding 
a  great  savant  "  utterly  off  the  line  in  secret,  and 
confirmed  by  recent  geological  discoveries,  but  he 
is  afraid  to  publish.  I  urged  him  strongly  to  go 
in  for  truth,  mat  ccelum.  He  said,  '  Nobody  with 
less  than  £3000  a-year  can  afford  to  hold  my 
views,' "  which  does  not  say  very  much  for  the 
philosopher.  All  this  shows  the  versatility  of 
mind  with  which  he  leaped  lightly  from  one  sub- 
ject to  another,  with  a  lively  interest  in  all.  He 
was  not  disposed,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  to  church- 
going,  professing  "  a  terrible  tendency  to  ague  in 
the  draughts  of  country  churches,  but  not  saying 
anything  about  a  much  greater  dread  which  I  have 
of  country  parsons."  Once  at  a  service  of  the  kind 
called  Puseyite  in  those  days,  he  declared  it  to  be 
"  like  badly  got-up  Buddhism."  He  describes  a 
popular  clergyman  of  the  time  as  "  a  man  with 
the  mind  of  a  woman  and  the  voice  of  a  trumpet, 
very  aggravating  but  amiable."  But  on  the  occa- 
sion of  a  visit  to  Glasgow,  he  declares  with  much 
w^armth,  "  Norman  Macleod  is  a  trump.  He  and 
Guthrie  are  the  only  decent  parsons  I  know."  His 
enjoyment  of  the  life  thus  described  is  very 
clearly  set  forth  in  one  of  his  letters,  and  all  its 
delights,  not  without  a  little  natural  complacence, 


296  SOCIAL    LIFE. 

while  yet  he  anticipates  with  philosophy  the  need 
for  settling  down  in  a  more  humble  way  : — 

"  My  life  is  necessarily  (in  general)  a  good  deal 
made  up  of  excitements  and  reactions ;    for  in- 
stance, just  now  here  I  am  scarcely  able  to  turn, 
for  a  press  both  of  business  and  pleasure.     Half-a- 
dozen  lectures  to  prepare,  proofs  constantly  to  cor- 
rect, and  book  not  yet  finished.     Charming  women 
at  hand  when  I  am  inclined  for  a  cosy  chair  in  the 
drawing-room  and  a  touch  of  the  aesthetic.     Any 
amount  of  game  merely  for  the  trouble  of  strol- 
ling through  a  few  turnip-fields  :  A.  and  I  killed 
twenty  -  one  brace  of  partridges  the  day  before 
yesterday.      Any  number  of  horses  to  ride — all 
the  more  to  be   appreciated  after  two  years  of 
filth,  heat,  and  absence  of  social  and  intellectual 
enjoyment.     But  I  hope   I   shall  not  be  such  a 
goose  as  to  growl  at  London  because  I  have  en- 
joyed myself  here.     If  I  see  my  way  to  being  com- 
fortably independent,  and  am  allowed  that  amount 
of  personal  liberty  which,  from  being  so  much  my 
own  master,  I  am  accustomed  to,  I  think  you  will 
find  me  a  happy  and  contented  companion  in  our 
lodging,  even  though  occupation  and  pleasure  are 
both  suddenly  slack.     I  should  be  more  than  un- 
grateful if  I  were  not  thankful  for  the  blessing 
of  having  you  to  share  it  with  me." 


MOTHER  AND    SON.  297 

That  this  sentiment  was  thoroughly  sincere, 
every  line  of  his  letters  testifies ;  but  yet  there 
were  times  when  his  mother's  continual  anxiety 
to  have  his  "serious  thoughts,"  as  well  as  the 
lighter  record  of  his  sayings  and  doings,  com- 
municated to  her,  brings  a  momentary  touch  of 
half-comic  irritation.  "You  must  be  philosophi- 
cal as  to  the  condition  of  my  spiritual  being,"  he 
says ;  and  while  telling  her  of  one  after  another 
of  the  great  ladies,  his  friends,  who  desire  to 
make  her  acquaintance,  and  whose  somewhat 
puzzled  admiration  of  the  close  bond  between 
mother  and  son  is  apparent,  he  adds  an  amusing 
story  told  him  by  one  of  them,  of  a  certain  old 
Lady  Campbell  who  had,  like  Lady  Oliphant,  one 
dearly  beloved  and  perfect  son  but  no  more. 
"  One  day  at  prayers,  when  the  minister  was 
saying,  '  For  there  is  no  good  in  us,  and  we  are 
every  one  of  us  miserable  sinners,'  she  was  heard 
audibly  to  protest,  '  Oh,  no'  my  Airchy,  no'  my 
Airchy  ! '  "     The  application  was  easy. 

The  year  1865,  however,  forms  a  definite  era 
in  his  life.  His  wanderings,  his  vagaries  of  mind 
and  thought,  even  his  impatience  with  the  im- 
perfections of  so-called  religious  persons  and  de- 
sire of  finding  some  better  way,  had  plunged  him 
during  the  two  or  three  previous  years  more  and 
more,  whenever  it  was  within  his  reach,  into  the 


298  SOCIAL    LIFE. 

excitement  of  society,  which  was  at  once  an  anti- 
dote to  the  restlessness  of  thought,   and  which 
the  attitude   he  repeatedly  compares  to  that  of 
Mr  Micawber,  of  waiting-  for  something  to  turn 
up,  made  a  necessity  to  him.      For  where  was  he 
to  find  the  patron,  the  appointment  on  which  his 
mind  was  set,  save  among  the  gTeat  personages, 
holders  of  power  and  influence,  who  were  to  be 
met  with  there?     I   do  not  pretend  to  be   able 
to  give  a  history  of  his  social  experiences  during 
the  intervals  when  he  reappeared  in  London,  al- 
ways with  the  eclat  of  some  new  performance  or 
event  —  the  successes  of  China,  the  hairbreadth 
escape  of  Japan,  the  mysterious  politics  of  mid- 
Europe — something  always  fresh  and  unknown,  to 
surround  him  with   attraction.      Probably  it   in- 
volved  episodes   of  another  kind   from   those  of 
adventure,    and    in   which    his    heart   was    more 
deeply  concerned  ;    and  it    is   by   no  means   un- 
likely  that,    on   the    eve    of    a    great    religious 
change,   the    current   of  his   life    may  have   run 
more  high  in  other  directions,  and  the  impetus 
of  existence  at  its  fullest  force  have  carried  him 
further  than  conscience  approved — thus  adding  a 
deeper  need  to  the  necessity  always  felt  of  a  new 
foundation,  and  a  sharper  point  to  his  prevailing 
consciousness    of   the    imperfections    in    him    and 
about   him,    the    hollowness   of   social   pretences. 


THE    STIRLING    BUEGHS.  299 

and  the  cliiBculty  of  holding  the  right  way  in  a 
society  which  condoned  moral  failure  so  easily,  and 
was  only  inexorable  to  poverty  and  social  defeat. 

In  this  year,  however,  these  wanderings  and 
waitings  came  to  an  end,  and  Laurence's  election 
as  member  for  the  Stirling  burghs  fixed  his  resi- 
dence in  town,  and  seemed  to  all  his  friends  the 
beffinninof  of  a  brilliant  and  useful  career.  That  he 
had  every  endowment  and  faculty  likely  to  make 
his  new  position  a  satisfactory  one  need  scarcely 
be  said.  He  was  no  recluse,  likely  to  be  intimi- 
dated by  that  so-called  "  august  assembly,"' — he 
had  full  habit  and  usage  of  the  world,  and  was 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  atmosphere  of 
political  life.  The  reasons  which  brought  about 
another  result,  and  the  disappointment  of  many 
of  the  hopes  conceived  by  his  friends,  if  not 
by  himself,  will  become  apparent  further  on.  I 
cannot  doubt  that  he  was  pleased  with  the  new 
beginning  of  life,  at  least  in  its  first  stage.  It 
had  been  in  his  mind  from  the  very  commence- 
ment of  his  career  as  the  alternative  to  the  life  of 
diplomacy,  which  was  what  had  commended  itself 
to  him  most.  And  he  took  it  up  heartily,  hoping 
to  play  an  important  part  in  the  history  of  his 
country.  He  had  contested  the  Stirling  burghs 
once,  if  not  twice,  before, — the  first  time  while 
still  very  young,  in  his  father's  lifetime,  before 


300  SOCIAL    LIFE. 

the  China  expedition, — and  he  had  many  humour- 
ous stories  to  tell  of  the  incidents  of  his  canvass- 
ing. One  of  these,  of  which  a  friend  tells  me, 
describes  how  he  was  taken  to  one  person  of  in- 
fluence after  another,  the  most  important  of  all 
being  a  cobbler,  ensconced  in  a  dark  little  shop 
approached  by  two  or  three  steps  leading  down- 
wards below  the  level  of  the  street.  Here  he 
underwent  the  process  of  "heckling"  with  much 
severity,  and  was  put  through  his  political  cate- 
chism so  entirely  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  shoe- 
maker politician,  that  he  smote  the  candidate 
upon  the  shoulder  in  the  intensity  of  his  satis- 
faction, exclaiming,  "You're  the  billie  for  me!" 
This  event  was  to  all  appearance  and  human 
likelihood  the  beginning  of  a  mature  and  estab- 
lished life.  It  was  in  reality  no  such  thing,  but 
only  a  transition  period — a  temporary  pause  and 
point  between  the  life  which  he  had  lived  like 
other  men,  and  another  so  unique  and  extra- 
ordinary as  to  separate  him  from  all  his  fellows. 
But  this  time  of  transition  was  in  itself  signal- 
ised by  so  much  that  was  brilliant  and  remarkable 
in  the  development  of  his  mind  and  genius,  as  to 
form  a  special  and  most  important  chapter  in  his 
career.  His  intellect  seemed  to  have  reached  a 
sudden  climax  of  energy,  wit,  and  power,  and  his 
whole  nature  burst  forth  in  an  overflow  of  gifts 


A    NEW   DEVELOPMENT.  301 

which  hitherto  had  been  restrained  in  channels 
inappropriate  to  their  full  exhibition, — in  a  kind 
of  riot  of  fancy,  fun,  and  satirical  brilliancy  and 
insight,  of  which  he  had  given  scarcely  any  in- 
dication before. 

This  extraordinary  new  outburst,  in  which  all 
the  fire  of  contending  elements  long  smouldering 
in  him  rose  into  sudden  flame,  was  preceded  by 
an  undertaking,  briefly  alluded  to  in  the  '  Epi- 
sodes,' and  very  unique  in  its  way,  which  may 
be  taken  more  or  less  as  the  conclusion  of  his 
entirely  mundane  career.  He  had  never  been 
one  of  the  "  worldly  holies "  of  his  own  brilliant 
classification,  nor  was  he  ever  at  any  time  reck- 
oned among  those  who  afiect  superiority  to  the 
world,  and  thank  God  that  they  are  not  as  other 
men ;  but  yet  the  distinction  between  the  two 
portions  of  his  life  is  very  marked,  though  as  para- 
doxical as  ever.  He  was  never  so  cynical  in  ex- 
pression, so  dazzling  in  satire,  as  when  his  whole 
life  was  disorganised  by  the  new  impulse  which 
moved  him  to  live  for  humanity  and  take  love  for 
the  race  of  mankind  as  his  only  inspiration  ;  nor  so 
wild  in  his  apparent  vagaries  as  when  he  first  be- 
came conscious  of  an  anchor  in  the  unseen,  and  a 
certainty  of  conviction  and  established  standing- 
ground. 

It   was,    however,    before    he    had    altogether 


302  SOCIAL    LIFE. 

opened  to  this  new  development  that  the  sin- 
0-ular  and  romantic  (if  such  a  word  can  be 
appHed  in  such  a  sense)  Httle  venture  of  the 
'Owl' — projected  in  laughter  and  high  spirits, 
and  carried  out  as  an  excellent  joke  by  every- 
body concerned — was  tossed  into  the  mystified 
and  astonished  world.  He  explains  its  first  be- 
o-inning  by  a  few  words  in  respect  to  the  excep- 
tional position  he  had  made  for  himself  by  his 
perpetual  travels  and  political  adventures.  He 
had  friends  everywhere  throughout  the  civilised 
(and  indeed  we  may  add  the  half-civilised)  world, 
and  in  all  the  quarters  which  he  had  visited  and 
studied,  plunging  into  the  troubled  waters  when- 
ever he  had  a  chance,  and  mastering  every  polit- 
ical combination  he  could  push  his  way  into ; 
and  from  these  friends  over  all  the  world  he 
was  in  the  habit  of  receiving  communications 
on  the  exciting  subjects  which  had  brought  them 
together.  "For  instance,"  he  says,  "a  confer- 
ence was  at  that  time  sitting  in  London  on  the 
Schleswig-Holstein  question,  consisting  of  pleni- 
potentiaries of  all  the  European  Powers  who  had 
been  parties  to  the  Treaty  of  London,  the  pro- 
ceedings at  which  were  kept  absolutely  secret ; 
yet  a  few  days  after  each  meeting,  I  received 
from  abroad  an  accurate  report  of  everything  that 
had  transpired  at  it — and  this,  I  hasten  to  say, 


A    LITTLE    DINNER.  303 

through  no  one  connected  with  our  own  Foreign 
Office.  I  felt  bursting  with  all  sorts  of  valuable 
knowledge,  with  no  means  of  imparting  it  in  a 
manner  which  suited  me." 

It  was  in  these  circumstances  that  "  a  little 
dinner"  was  given  at  a  little  house  in  Mayfair, 
the  residence  of  ladies  who  were  oreat  friends 
of  Oliphant's,  and  through  him  exceedingly  hos- 
pitable to  various  other  young  men  of  his  im- 
mediate intimacy,  all  in  the  fullest  current  of 
society  and  energy  of  life.  I  have  heard  one  of 
them  say  regretfully  that  such  conversation  as 
that  of  this  little  salon — in  which  every  man  did 
his  best  to  shine,  and  to  win  the  smile  of  a 
hostess  full  of  wit  and  brilliancy,  and  capable 
herself  of  a  full  share  in  the  hon  mots  that  flew 
about,  and  the  discussions  that  took  place  be- 
tween whiles — it  has  seldom  been  his  lot  to  hear. 
Amid  the  brilliant  talk  on  this  particular  occa- 
sion it  was  suggested  by  some  one  "  that  a  little 
paper  should  be  started  by  way  of  a  skit,  in 
which  the  most  outrageous  canards  should  be 
given  as  serious,  and  serious  news  should  be 
disguised  in  a  most  grotesque  form."  No  doubt 
the  merry  party  began  its  composition  on  the 
moment,  with  all  the  eagerness  of  a  new  amuse- 
ment, and  the  canards  made  their  first  flight 
over  the  bright  dinner-table,  with  an  additional 


304  SOCIAL    LIFE. 

touch  of  colour  laid  on  to  each  wing  as  they  flitted 
from  convive  to  convive.  They  had  the  means 
not  only  of  dazzling  and  mystifying  a  dull  public, 
but  also  of  getting  at  that  public,  which  often 
fails  to  such  amusing  projects  ;  for  one  of  the  com- 
pany was  Sir  Algernon  Borthwick,  who  "  kindly 
undertook  to  print  the  absurd  little  sheet." 

The  gay  conspirators  watched,  with  all  the 
gusto  which  attends  a  mystification,  to  see  how 
the  jest  took.  And  it  took  like  wildfire.  The 
world  got  note  of  it  while  it  was  still  damp 
from  the  press,  and  soon  in  all  the  circles  they 
frequented,  amid  affairs  of  state,  and  the  last 
great  scandal  or  discovery  of  the  day,  there  rose 
a  murmur  of  inquiries,  of  guesses,  and  discussions 
about  this  little  droll  solemn  invader  of  society, 
which  knew  everything,  and  had  the  secrets  of 
the  Foreign  Office  at  its  finger-ends,  and  con- 
founded and  tantalised  everybody  with  its  ex- 
traordinary acquaintance  with  life  and  events. 
It  was  the  most  excellent  joke  to  the  young 
men.  When  they  saw  carriages  thronging  the 
street  in  which  was  the  little  shabby  office  from 
which  the  '  Owl '  was  issued,  they  stole  aside  into 
corners  to  laugh  till  they  could  laugh  no  more — 
and  in  the  evening  eyed  each  other  over  the  shoul- 
ders of  the  fashionable  mob  with  twinkling  eyes, 
while  all  the  great  men  and  all  the  fine  ladies 


THE   'owl.'  305 

asked  each  other,  What  was  the  '  Owl '  ?  Who 
had  communicated  to  it  those  startKng  secrets  ? 
Where  did  it  get  its  information  ?  When  the 
plotters  discovered  that  they  were  actually  mak- 
ing money  by  the  jest  which  they  all  enjoyed 
so  thoroughly,  their  amusement  and  satisfaction 
became  more  piquant  still ;  but  in  faithful  ad- 
herence to  their  original  principle,  they  deter- 
mined to  spend  their  profit  gaily, — not  putting- 
it  away  in  any  dull  banking  account,  but  dedi- 
cating it  to  a  weekly  dinner  of  the  most  sumptu- 
ous description,  and  other  "larks."  One  of  the 
surviving  members  of  this  brilliant  band  tells 
me  of  a  great  entertainment  offered  by  the  Owls 
to  all  the  "  smart "  ladies  of  their  acquaintance, 
when  jewelled  gifts  were  hung  among  the  flowery 
ornaments  on  the  table,  and  all  was  harmony 
and  splendour,  the  whole  defrayed  by  the  fun 
and  wisdom  of  the  eccentric  journal,  which 
appeared  when  it  pleased,  always  affording 
society  a  new  surprise.  It  is  scarcely  necessary 
to  say,  however,  that  Laurence  Oliphant  did  not 
follow  the  career  of  this  wild  little  bandit  of  the 
press  for  any  long  continuance.  He  was  a  large 
contributor  to  the  first  numbers,  and  continued 
until  the  tenth.  Then,  or  soon  after,  he  found 
the  other  contributors  in  the  mind  to  adopt  a 
more  business-like  arrangement  for  what  was  in 
VOL.   I.  TJ 


306  SOCIAL    LIFE. 

the  beginning  pure  sport,  and  he  retired  alto- 
gether from  the  undertaking.  It  continued  its 
career,  I  beheve,  for  some  years,  appearing  more 
regularly,  although  only  during  the  season,  and 
falling  into  more  ordinary  lines ;  for,  to  be  sure, 
neither  mystification  nor  "larks"  could  continue 
for  ever. 

Perhaps  it  was  the  success  of  this  venture,  so 
far  out  of  the  usual  decorous  habitudes  of  the 
press,  which  had  not  then  fallen  into  the  evil 
ways  of  "  Society "  papers,  which  turned  the 
thouo-hts  of  Laurence  to  another  use  of  the  re- 
markable  gifts  of  social  satire  and  criticism,  which 
probably  he  himself  became  acquainted  with  in  a 
sort  of  surprise  as  well  as  his  readers.  Even  in 
the  letters  I  have  quoted,  though  they  are  al- 
ways full  of  humorous  touches,  there  are  perhaps 
fewer  shafts  of  satirical  description  than  could 
be  extracted  from  half  the  confidential  letters 
written  from  country-houses  in  any  autumnal 
season.  And  the  books  he  had  hitherto  published 
were  entirely  descriptive  and  political,  full  of 
information  and  facts,  though  handled  with  so 
light  a  hand,  and  pervaded  by  such  an  airy  wealth 
of  amused  and  amusing  observation,  that  they 
read,  as  people  say,  "  like  a  novel."  But  it  was 
altogether  a  new  beginning  when  the  traveller, 
the    diplomate,   the    serious   spectator  of  distant 


ithuriel's  spear.  307 

countries  and  political  intrigues,  suddenly  per- 
ceived that  round  about  him — within  the  radius 
of  that  mile  of  streets  in  which,  for  a  part  of  the 
year,  there  lives  and  feasts  and  dances  and  talks, 
a  community  quite  unconscious,  in  the  simplicity 
of  its  assumption,  of  any  arrogance  in  calling  itself 
the  World — lay  boundless  material  for  satire  and 
fancy.  The  inconsistency  of  people  calling  them- 
selves Christians  had  long  been  a  favourite  subject 
of  indignant  remark  and  criticism  to  Laurence,  as 
has  been  repeatedly  noted  already — perhaps  too 
favourite  a  subject,  since  to  judge  a  system,  and 
particularly  a  belief,  not  on  its  own  merits  but 
on  those  of  the  people  who  profess  it,  is  scarcely 
either  fair  or  loofical.  But  when  or  how  it  first 
occurred  to  him,  with  a  flash  of  sudden  inspira- 
tion, that  he  possessed,  hitherto  unnoticed  in  his 
armoury,  a  sharp  -  edged  weapon  of  the  kind  of 
Ithuriel's  spear,  upon  which  he  could  pick  up  and 
exhibit,  impaled  uj^on  its  shining  point,  not  only 
to  the  world  but  to  themselves,  the  masquerades 
of  society,  I  have  been  unable  to  discover,  unless 
the  '  Owl '  was  the  instrument  of  revelation.  In 
his  letters  to  the  editor  of  '  Blackwood's  Magazine,' 
in  which  the  first  number  of  '  Piccadilly,'  pub- 
lished as  a  serial  in  that  Maofazine  durino-  the 
summer  of  1865,  appeared,  the  doubtful  character 
of  the  entirely  new  venture — whether  it  would  be 


308  SOCIAL    LIFE. 

successful  or  not,  whether  it  might  merit  success, 
how  the  world  would  receive  it — are  discussed 
with  all  the  uncertainty  of  a  beginner.  It  had 
occurred  to  me  as  quite  possible  that  it  was  the 
suggestion  of  the  able  and  far-seeing  editor  re- 
ferred to,  the  late  Mr  John  Blackwood,  whose 
literary  perceptions  (though  he  never  touched  a 
pen  save  to  write  letters)  were  singularly  trust- 
worthy, which  directed  Oliphant  to  the  un- 
thouffht-of  medium  of  fiction.  And  I  find  on 
inquiry  that  this  was  indeed  partly  the  case,  Mr 
Blackwood  having  mentioned  to  him  a  similar 
project  on  the  part  of  J.  G.  Lockhart,  the  son-in- 
law  and  biographer  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  which 
probably  acted  as  a  spark  to  the  ready  fire  of 
Laurence's  as  yet  undisclosed  thoughts.  The 
first  intimation  of  the  work  occurs  as  follows  : — 

"London,  Jan.  24,  1865. 

"  I  enclose  the  MS.  according  to  your  wish. 
I  am  glad  you  think  I  might  succeed  in  this 
kind  of  work.  You  will  see  from  reading  it 
what  my  idea  was,  one  entirely  '  novel,'  and 
which  could  only  be  done  in  a  serial — that  is, 
to  write  a  novel  in  the  form  of  a  contemporane- 
ous autobiography,  in  which  I  should  parody  the 
incidents  of  the  month,  make  my  hero  make 
speeches   on   public   questions   in   the    House    of 


'PICCADILLY.'  309 

Commons,  stay  in  country-houses,  flirt,  shoot  a 
la  Burnaby  if  need  be,  lecture,  argue,  &c.  But 
the  difficulty  is  the  plot :  I  cannot  proportion  the 
importance  of  the  plot  and  the  opinions.  I  am 
always  losing  sight  of  the  former,  being  extremely 
full  of  the  latter.  Then  they  are  what  would  be 
called  extravagant  in  many  points,  and  I  don't 
know  that  you  would  like  to  publish  them.  I 
feel  disposed  to  go  in  against  most  of  the  popular 
ideas  of  the  day,  and  utterly  ignore  existing  pre- 
judices on  many  serious  matters ;  therefore  the 
chief  aim  would  be  to  point  a  moral,  with  a  ven- 
geance. I  am  afraid  of  doing  it  too  seriously, 
and  yet  I  don't  want  to  bring  it  into  ridicule  by 
too  much  burlesque.  .  .  .  The  whole  thing  is 
an  experiment,  not  only  in  its  chronology,  but  in 
its  other  features.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  a  cari- 
cature, and  not  intended  to  be  quite  natural  or 
possible.  I  look  upon  it  as  the  highest  form  of 
art  to  supplant  the  natural  with  the  imaginative  ; 
but  of  course  it  runs  the  risk  of  failing  by  reason 
of  its  extravagance.  My  difficulty  in  the  present 
undertaking  is  to  keep  the  grotesque  element 
within  bounds  :  it  is  like  a  strong  spice,  the 
flavour  of  which  easily  overpowers.  As  a  sort  of 
qualification  to  this,  I  have  determined  on  mak- 
ing Vanecourt  more  or  less  mad.  In  this  char- 
acter he  becomes  intensely  interesting  to  draw, 


310  SOCIAL    LIFE. 

and  the  play  of  his  mind  is  a  good  study.  More- 
over, it  enables  his  opinions  and  acts  to  be  ex- 
travagant and  inconsistent  always,  based,  never- 
theless, upon  truth  and  rectitude,  which  two 
principles  are  so  extremely  dry  and  distasteful 
that  nobody  would  care  about  a  novel  conveying 
such  an  old-fashioned  moral  unless  it  were  put 
in  some  newfangled  form.  Nevertheless,  I  am 
quite  sure  the  first  parts,  at  all  events,  will 
mystify  the  public,  and  set  up  everybody's  back. 
I  shall  consider  it  only  a  success  if  it  is  the  best 
abused  novel  out.  I  see  some  of  the  reviewers 
think  it  is  O'Dowd." 

That  all  plans  of  this  kind  are  much  modified 
in  the  progress  of  the  work  is  very  rapidly  percep- 
tible. In  no  operation  is  the  solvitur  amhulando 
so  strikingly  manifested.  "  The  best  laid  schemes 
o'  mice  and  men"  go  astray  nowhere  so  com- 
pletely as  in  the  working  out  of  fiction.  Only 
a  few  weeks  have  elapsed  when  Laurence  writes 
again  :  "  I  get  so  interested  in  writing  it  that  I 
feel  it  difficult  to  keep  it  waiting  for  events,  so 
that  the  contemporaneous  element  will  perhaps  in 
course  of  time  give  way  to  the  story,  but  that 
won't  matter."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  neither  the 
contemporaneous  element  (so  soon  out  of  date  and 
forgotten)  nor  the  story  are  the  points  that  took 


THE  WHOLLY  WORLDLY  AND  WORLDLY  HOLY.   311 

all  readers  by  storm  In  '  Piccadilly.'  The  start- 
ling types  of  character — the  worldly  holy  and 
the  wholly  worldly  :  Lady  Broadhem,  with  her 
high  principles  in  religion  and  her  absolute,  al- 
most innocent,  obtuseness  to  the  first  principles 
of  honesty  in  speculation ;  the  Stock  Exchange 
fashionable,  Spitfy  Goldtip,  jDerha^^s  the  earliest 
revelation  of  that  strange  nondescrijDt  and  auda- 
cious schemer  ;  the  bold  yet  abject  parvenus  ;  the 
mob  of  fashion,  carried  hither  and  thither  as  the 
secret  impulse  was  given — were  its  greatest  at- 
tractions. Even  the  muscular  colonial  Bishop, 
Joseph  Caribbee  Islands,  the  curious  American 
(a  type  very  rampant  in  those  days,  now  obso- 
lete), and  the  converted  Hindoo,  though  exceed- 
ingly amusing,  were  less  heeded,  being  less  tre- 
mendous in  their  exposition  of  reality  and  sham, 
than  the  other  terrible  yet  airy  sketches,  so  light, 
so  powerful,  almost  tragical  in  satire,  so  true  to 
life. 

"  The  fact  is,"  the  author  adds,  "  that  the 
class  which  would  appreciate  it  are  not  a  maga- 
zine-reading class.  If  it  went  down  at  all,  it 
would  be  entirelv  amono^  the  fashionables,  who 
never  read  serials  or  much  else,  and  who  would 
read  this  because  it  came  home  to  them.  It 
would  go  exactly  Avhere  the  '  Owl '  did,  to  the 
young  ladies  and  people  who  never  read  news- 


312  SOCIAL    LIFE. 

papers.  When  it  got  well  talked  of  by  the  heau 
monde,  the  '  middles '  would  buy  it — not  because 
they  would  understand  it,  but  because  it  would 
be  the  correct  thing."  Perhaps  he  was  a  little 
contemptuous  here,  as  not  unfrequently  happens, 
of  the  "  middles,"  among  which  highly  indefinite 
and  widely  extended  class  there  are  plenty  of 
Lady  Broadhems,  and  the  worldly  holy  flourish 
largel}''.  But  it  was  Society  which  was  hit,  and 
in  the  very  centre  of  the  shield. 

"  As  for  hurting  me  in  the  House,  nothing," 
he  says,  "  can  hurt  me,  provided  what  I  do  is 
from  a  right  motive.  My  only  fear  about  my 
motive  in  this  instance  is  that  I  may  have  a 
lurking  vanity  in  it ;  but  the  motive  I  try  to 
have  is  to  wake  people  up,  and  make  them  either 
believe  or  disbelieve,  and  not  go  on  humbugging 
with  Providence  any  longer.  If  I  am  single  and 
earnest  in  this,  I  defy  all  efforts  to  injure  me 
anywhere."  "I  do  feel  that  the  times  are  so 
bad  that  they  require  exposure."  These  argu- 
ments in  defence  of  his  book  are  taken  from 
letters  to  his  publisher,  who,  it  is  curious  to 
find,  hesitated  to  republish  as  a  book  this  ex- 
traordinarily brilliant  work,  to  my  mind  the  most 
powerful  of  all  Oliphant's  productions.  "It  is  a 
great  tax  upon  your  friendship,"  Laurence  says, 
"  to  ask  you  to  do  what  you  feel  so  disagreeable. 


DELAY    OF    PUBLICATION.  313 

This  has  weighed  very  much  with  me  ;  but  as 
you  say,  '  If  you  are  very  much  bent  upon  it,  I 
am  wilhng,'  I  confess  I  am."  This  hesitation, 
afterwards  justified  by  the  fact  that  '  Piccadilly,' 
though  a  great  literary  success,  was  scarcely  so  in 
a  commercial  point  of  view,  had  its  share  in  keep- 
ing back  the  republication  of  the  book,  which — 
notwithstanding  the  effect  it  produced  on  its  ap- 
pearance in  '  Blackwood's  Magazine,'  even  when  its 
daring  assault  upon  the  world  was  broken  by  the 
intervals  of  publication,  and  it  was  still  possible 
for  the  Solomons  of  the  newspapers  to  "  think  it 
was  O'Dowd  " — was  not  produced  in  a  permanent 
form  until  five  years  had  come  and  gone,  bring- 
ing with  them  many  strange  revolutions,  and 
none  more  strang-e  than  those  which  had  taken 
place  in  the  fortune  of  the  author.  That  extra- 
ordinary crisis  in  the  meantime  altered  every- 
thing for  him, — who  was,  at  the  time  '  Piccadilly ' 
was  first  printed,  the  man  we  know,  newly 
elected  member  of  Parliament,  one  of  the  first 
authorities  upon  foreign  politics,  the  favourite  of 
society,  the  friend  of  all  that  was  best  and  high- 
est in  England,  a  courted  guest,  a  brilliant  ^\^:iter 
and  still  more  delightful  conversationalist,  capable 
almost  of  any  advancement :  and  who  was,  at  the 
time  of  its  republication,  no  more  than  a  visitor 
in  the  brilliant  circles  Avhich  had  before  been  his 


314  SOCIAL    LIFE. 

home,  with  hands  hardened  by  manual  toil,  a 
career  thrown  back  into  the  regions  of  the  acci- 
dental, and  all  advancement,  as  the  word  is  gen- 
erally understood,  put  away  from  both  life  and 
possibility.  How  such  a  wonderful  change  took 
place  has  now  to  be  told.  The  reader  who  has 
followed  his  career  so  far  will  be  able  to  foresee 
that  it  was  at  all  times  a  possible  thing  that 
this  might  happen,  and  that  the  latent  spark 
of  the  revolution  had  been  lying  for  years  in 
his  heart,  awaiting  the  hand  that  should  stir  it 
into  life. 


END    OF   THE   FIRST   VOLUME. 


PRINTED   BY  WILLIAM   BLACKWOOD  AND  SONS,    EDINBURGH. 


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